The Love Octagon Venn Diagram
by SiMamu
Summary: Issei is lost in the Dimensional Gap. As the Occult Research Club battle with carrying on in life and fighting off sugestions he might be gone forever, they are met with a mysterious new figure. Rias Akeno x O.C. NTR. Brom-com. Complete, for now.
1. Chapter 1,1: Patience

**The Love Octagon Venn Diagram**

 _A High School DxD fanfic_

 _By me_

 _Rated M_

Chapter 1: Patience

Rias Gremory sat uncomfortably in class, attempting to distract herself from the thought that plagued her mind constantly. _Issei was gone._ Here she was trying to return to mundane life like everything wasn't completely different. How could she be expected to function and return to her previous routine without Issei Hyoudou in her life? Her heart tightened every time she thought of him – which was almost always, as Issei's death – no, disappearance (she hasn't given up on him yet) – occupied her every waking thought.

The moment of Issei's disappearance kept on replaying in her mind, on a never ending repeat. Every time her minded drifted off or she closed her eyes, all she could picture was Issei and Valli disappearing into the dimensional gap in the midst of their heavily anticipated clash. Neither had been since. Rias kept on waiting and waiting for Issei's return, but it never came.

No longer her usually observant self, Rias was suddenly hit with the realisation that something had changed in the dynamic of her class. She cast her eyes across the classroom in an attempt to work out what it was. She looked to Akino on her left hand side, in the seat along the same horizontal row as her, looking similarly distant and grief-stricken. This was not the root of this alter in the fabrics of the classroom. She directed her gaze to the other side of the classroom in an effort to locate what was bothering her. And Rias was met with her answer: a new – male – student. How had she missed his introduction? The loss of Issei was throwing her more of her game than she thought.

This new classmate was by no means a bad looking fellow. If her heart didn't belong to Issei, Rias would certainly find herself mildly attracted to this young man. He wasn't a 'pretty boy' like Kiba, instead he had more of a rugged feel about him. He had long, dark curly hair that went to his shoulders, relatively pale skin and a thin beard that coated his chin and cheeks. He wore the regular school uniform. There was a familiarity about him that she couldn't put her finger on to try and work out why. He was sat in the seat in front of the seat directly to Rias' right, so she could see him but he couldn't see her unless he went through the strain of turning around – which may risk a neck injury. He had a vacant look plastered across his face, with his mind clearly not focused on the lesson. From the movement of his jaw she realised that he was also chewing gum.

The teacher's voice suddenly pierced through Rias' distracted thoughts, when Rias heard the teacher shout "Mr. Gin, I don't know how they did things at your old school, but here at Kuoh Academy we don't chew gum in class. And whilst I'm on the subject of what we don't accept here, we're not too keen on facial here either."

Rias turned from the angry face of the teacher to the new student, 'Mr. Gin'. Mr. Gin looked up at the teacher with a raised eyebrow, clearly annoyed at this teacher for embarrassing him in front of his new classmates. Rias expected him to say something but, instead, the teacher's facial expression completely changed and she moved on as if nothing had happened.

This incident left Rias mildly surprised, as she tried to work out why the teacher decided to drop things so easily. A similar incident occurred soon after. Mr. Gin returned to his daydreaming until he was rudely interrupted, when the teacher tried to catch him out by asking him a question in the knowledge that he was clearly not paying attention – a classic teacher move in their arsenal of dirty tricks. Rias expected the new pupil to react in a distressed fashion and say something like 'oh, um, well, um, I'm not sure, um, could you please repeat the question?' But Mr. Gin kept his composure and again simply looked up at the teacher and, again, the teacher moved on as if nothing had happened. But this time Rias saw it. Or at least she thought she'd seen it. She believed she'd seen something at the very least, perhaps not 'it'. But definitely something.

Rias was more attentive this time and maintained her focus on Mr. Gin throughout the incident. When he looked up at the teacher and locked eyes with the teacher, a silver glint played across his livid (blue-grey) eyes. To someone who had not fixed their gaze upon this young man would not have recognised this change in his eyes, or perhaps even noticed it at all – but Rias prided herself on her attention to detail in such matters. She was certain that something was afoot with this young man and she was keen to find out what.

She continued to stare at this newcomer in an attempt to uncover something else about him. Rias was then welcomed with quite the surprise when he risked straining his neck to turn around to her watchful gaze. Mr. Gin gave her a friendly smile and proceeded to wink at her, before turning back around to face the front and return to his daydreaming state.

 _ **/**_

Upon the culmination of the school day, Rias gathered herself and dragged herself to the usual meeting place of the 'Occult Research Club'. She got there ten or so minutes before the rest of the club so that she could assemble the necessary materials for her to assign set tasks to the members. As she entered the club room she was met by Azazel, again sitting in her chair.

"This is a recurring habit that I would like for you to break out of. That is my chair, get out of it. Please," Rias said to him.

"And good afternoon to you too, Rias," Azazel responded, ignoring her instruction, "I have got a word of a mission that your brother would like for you to complete with your team."

Rias nodded to him, "go on."

"There is a stray devil he would like for you to deal with. This devil has proved somewhat problematic over the years, with every devil sent to deal with the devil failing. Sirzechs has recently got word that this devil has now found its way to your territory, and has deemed it only fair to allow you and your team to have a pop at catching him," Azazel informed her. "So no pressure," he added with a wry smile.

"Great," Rias replied with a forced smile, willing herself to remain perky and witty in such dark times.

The other members of the 'Occult Research Club' flooded in, all with a sense of sorrow in their step, all also battling with feelings of regret and sadness over the loss of Issei. They sat themselves down on the seats before Rias' desk – of which remained occupied by Azazel – and proceeded to all look down at their feet with glum expressions fixed across their faces.

"Hello all," Rias began, "I know that we're all struggling at present, but we have to try and remain dutiful. We have been set a task by my brother, of which I hope you feel up to completing."

"What's the point?" Koneko responded solemnly.

"Excuse me?" Rias found herself crying out.

"What's the point of continuing like nothing's happened? How can we be expected to go on as normal when Issei's gone?" Koneko replied.

"He was the glue that held us together and drew us in," Akeno added.

Rias breathed in and out to compose herself and finally issued a response to her comrades: "I'm not expecting you to act like nothing's happened or to go back to normal. We've all been deeply affected by the loss of Issei, myself included, but we've got to carry on and do our jobs because it's what Issei would want us to do. The best way for us to pass the time whilst we wait for his return is to make sure we continue to do what's expected of us, so that Issei doesn't have to return to a club in tatters."

"That's if he ever returns," Xenovia muttered with pain etched into her words.

"We can't think like that. If we do, we'll never be able to function, we have to try and remain positive until we know something with certainty. We just need to have a little patience," Rias said, trying to drum up positivity in others whilst covering up her own feelings.

"The president is right, we need to continue to do what Issei would want us to do in his absence, and keep on doing our jobs. Come on, guys," said Kiba, issuing a rallying call.

The rest of the club's faces began to perk up a bit, as they nodded in agreement. Preparations then began for their departure, as they drew out plans for this allusive stray devil.

 _ **/**_

"Are you sure this big house is where we can find the stray?" Rossweisse asked Rias.

"This is definitely the address Azazel gave me, whether it's correct or not remains to be seen," Rias responded.

"How can a stray devil live in such an absolute mansion when he never stays in one place for long?" Xenovia queried rhetorically.

The 'Occult Research Club' stood just outside a towering mansion of a home, which looked like it could house tens of people in it, with each inhabitant getting a fairly large room for themselves. The house was placed on the outskirts of town, away from the majority of the residents of the settlement.

"How many devils are we expecting to find in this place?" asked Kiba, clearly amazed by the size of this place.

"One," Rias answered.

"So how should we go about getting in?" piped up Koneko.

"There doesn't appear to be any fence blocking us from getting into the garden of the house, so perhaps going in through the backdoor (lol) would be the best course of action?" Akeno proposed.

"Agreed," said Rias.

They tiptoed round his house – for they did not wish to alert the rogue devil to their presence - entering into the garden and coming before a large, green garage like door at the back of the house. Rias nodded to Koneko, who stepped up and proceeded to rip the large barrier from its hinges. As the door was lifted up, they were met with a dark but still visible room. The room seemed to fill the entirety of the ground floor of this building – encompassing a living area, a dining area and a kitchen. They looked across the room to the far end of the house where they saw two faces looking back at them with startled expressions. The resident of this house appeared to be in the midst of paying a pizza delivery boy, who was particularly shocked by the sudden entrance of the 'Occult Research Club'.

The owner of the home turned to them and told them: "give me one second; I'll be right with you. In fact, could you please go back outside and come back in when I tell you? I had a bit planned for when you got here, but you took longer than expected, and I got bored. And hungry. I promise I'll still be here when you come back in. Scout's honour (although I was never a scout)."

"Um, sure," Rias said, particularly surprised by this incident. This was definitely a new one in her experience of dealing with stray devils. Her and the club members retreated back out of the garage like door and waited just out of view.

"Okay, come back in," the owner of the home shouted to them.

As they re-entered the house, this time with less of an entrance, they noticed that neither the resident of the address or the pizza boy were at the front door. In the centre of the room was a black leather desk chair, in which the homeowner sat in with his back turned to them. He spun the chair round to face them, "I've been-, oh, shit," as the chair continued to turn beyond directly facing them. "For fuck's sake, that's completely ruined what I had planned, as I put too much spin in my turning of the chair. Anyway, I've been expecting you," said Mr. Gin.

 _ **/**_

"I've been expecting you," said Mr. Gin, with his right arm resting on the armrest and his raised right hand cupping his chin, whilst his right leg crossed over his left.

"Wait, I know this guy – he's just joined my class at Kuoh Academy," Rias said abruptly, as she suddenly recognised him.

Unlike in their first meeting, Mr. Gin was no longer dressed in the uniform of the Kuoh Academy. Instead, he wore a black suit with the lowest button done up, revealing a black shirt – with the top button undone. His long, dark curls were now in a ponytail.

"Oh, hi Rias, nice to see you again," Mr. Gin said, raising his other hand to wave at Rias, accompanying this with a friendly smile. "How lucky I am, to have such beautiful guests visiting my lowly home. I would definitely shag all of you, if given the opportunity – both females and males. At least I would if I swung both ways, but sadly I do not."

"Who the fuck is this creep?" whispered Koneko, expressing a reaction that mirrored that of her comrades, who found themselves rather weirded out by this individual.

"I should probably introduce myself. My name is Taro Gin, or Gin Taro if you want it in the Japanese way. I'm not fazed either way. Don't worry, I know who all of you are," Taro Gin informed them.

Looking upon him and figuring that he didn't seem like much of an adversary, Rias decided that she may as well try and go about this in a peaceful way. "Mr. Gin, we have been sent to capture you so that you may pay for your crimes."

"Really? What a shame, I really thought we could become friends, and I don't much like having to hit girls," Taro responded.

"So you're not going to turn yourself in peacefully?" Rias asked, wanting confirmation before she instructed her team to attack.

"No, I'm afraid," replied Taro.

"Very well then. Occult Research Club: assemble," Rias cried out as the battle began.

Akeno initiated the fight by sending a bolt of lightning in Taro Gin's direction. The bolt seemed to be right on target, but with the movement of Taro's hand the bolt went through a teleportation seal thing.

"I'd duck if I was you," Taro informed them.

"What?!" the Occult Research Club said in unison, before ducking at the last minute to avoid the bolt of lightning that had suddenly came shooting out from behind them. Taro again raised his hand and the bolt disappeared through a seal, but this time it did not return. They turned to him in surprise.

"What? This is my house, I don't want it blowing stuff up in here," he responded.

"Where did it go?" Xenovia questioned.

"No idea, probably to someone I dislike. I'm afraid that there are too many of those for me to try and pinpoint exactly who though," replied Taro.

With Taro seemingly distracted, Akeno attempted to again muster an attack. Taro noticed this and vanished from his chair, suddenly appearing behind her. "Now, now, I can't be having you destroying my lovely home," he said to her, before tapping both her arms with seals appearing. Akeno's arms then disappeared.

"What?! Where did my arms go? Oh my God, am I now armless? How am I to muster up lightening?!" she cried out.

"Calm down, you still have arms, they've just been," Taro paused, "misplaced. They've just been moved elsewhere as they're proving to be quite bothersome. Your body is still functioning as if they're in their normal place, there's no need to worry – your arms will return in due course, eventually. Probably. At least, I think they will. I'm not normally here when it happens as I've made my escape, but I'm pretty certain they will."

"WHAT?!" Akeno bellowed in disbelief.

"Wow, up close you're even prettier. You, my dear, are definitely one of my favourites," continued Taro, ignoring her cries.

Akeno blushed in response to this, but then remembered what was going on and shouted "FUCK OFF."

The rest of the club rallied to attack. Kiba and Xenovia came at Taro from both sides. Taro teleported and appeared a foot behind his initial spot, waiting for Kiba and Xenovia to meet in the centre. When they did, he tapped both their hands and, with a verbal " _poof_ " on Taro's part, their hands and swords disappeared. They stared at where their hands had been in disbelief, trying to work out what had just happened.

Irina charged at Taro, her holy sword swaying like a phallic object. As she swung her sword down upon him, his left shoulder disappeared – the area where her sword would've made contact. She saw something in the periphery of her vision to the left of her. Irina glanced to the left and saw the missing left shoulder of Taro, who then materialised alongside the shoulder. Taro put his right arm around her shoulders, his hand resting on her right shoulder blade.

"An angel? Wow, and so pretty - a pure and untainted flower in so many ways, not just in virginity," Taro said.

"Get your hand off of me, you wretch," she roared through gritted teeth.

Ignoring her, Taro continued: "it would be a shame for someone to defile such a being," his eyes lighting up with lust.

"What?!" Irina bellowed.

"I'm just joshing around – but if I ever decide that I'm loving angel instead, you'll be the first one I go to, my dear," Taro told her with a smile. He then brought across his left hand and tapped her left arm in unison with the right hand lifting slightly to tap the shoulder blade it lay on. And within a split second, her arms too vanished into thin air. Taro then skipped away from Irina, laughing to himself at how he'd toyed with her.

Next came Rossweisse, who attempted to gather the winds to strike this foe, but in the blink of an eye her hands met a similar fate to Akeno's, rendering her attacks useless or at least misguided. She screamed in dismay at the sight of there being nothingness in the space where her hands should be. Koneko came up behind an unsuspecting Taro and smacked him round the head with all her might.

"Ow, fuck," he yelled out, "you bitch. If you weren't so young I'd slice and dice you, sending your body parts to a million different corners of the world. But in your youthful naivety, I shall forgive you."

Taro turned and gripped Koneko's hands and looked into her eyes, with that silver flicker again playing across his livid (I looked up what blue-grey is called, I'm using this word from now on. Deal with it) eyes. She gasped and ran away. Asia chased after her, crying out for Koneko to come back and tell her what's wrong.

"What did you do to her?" Rias demanded.

"Relax," Taro began, "I just made her mildly attracted to me, making any potential attack null as she wouldn't want to inflict real pain on someone she fancies. Don't worry, it's only temporary. I didn't look deeply into her eyes enough to make it permanent."

"Go, Gaspar," Rias instructed.

"But I'm scared!" he wailed in response. Taro turned to him and started to tap his left foot in expectation and impatience.

"Gaspar, come on, pull yourself together, man," shouted Rias.

"Oh, stop shouting at me!" he cried, but finally mustered up the courage to freeze Taro, stopping him from pulling any more teleportation tricks.

Rias flew over to where Taro found himself frozen. She landed gently in front of him and raised her right arm with a crimson ball of destruction appearing in her outstretched hand. "You've had enough fun, Taro Gin, but I'm afraid that the fun is over – for you at least. If aren't willing to comply and let me take you to the necessary authorities without any fighting back, I'm afraid I may have to obliterate you from existence."

"Obliterate me? From existence? I don't much like the sound of that," Taro began, weighing up his options, "but I also don't fancy my chances with the 'authorities' you speak of, as I've caused them quite a bit of grief in the past. Is there a third option?"

"No," Rias replied bluntly.

"I see," said Taro, locking eyes with Rias and smiling.

Rias anticipated his next move and swiftly raised her free hand to cover her eyes, blocking out his eye ability. "Not this time," she informed him.

"Drat, time for plan B," Taro responded, "Would it be possible for me to join the little squad you have here? I understand you recently lost a member. I believe I could adequately replace him in some respects. Your team was pretty sloppy today, so having someone who isn't overwhelmed with grief may help you in future conflict. Not all of your enemies will be quite so focused on the entertainment factor of the battle."

"A sensible suggestion," Rias began.

"Thank you."

"But I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline your offer."

"Oh, I see, may I ask why?"

"We have no vacancies left in our roster, I'm afraid."

"Could I not just join in an unofficial, non-chess piece based capacity? Like the angel."

"No."

"Pretty please."

"Why do you want to join the team and how do we know you won't betray us?"

"I'm sick of running and being forever on the move, I like it here and I like you guys – you've got a bit about you," Taro responded. "If you like, I'll sign a binding agreement or some form of contract to promise that I won't?"

"It's a tempting offer but I remain dubious."

"How about on a trial basis, just to see how things go? This way, you have someone on their game whilst you recover from your loss."

"Fine," Rias replied, "let's see how things go," giving him a forced smile.

"Result," said Taro, smiling beaming back at her.


	2. Chapter 1,2: I'd Wait For Life

**The Love Octagon Venn Diagram**

 _A High School DxD fanfic_

 _By me_

 _Rated M_

Chapter 2: I'd Wait for Life

The Occult Research Club gathered in the meeting room for their daily assigning of tasks after school. Azazel was, this time, not present, with Rias now able to finally occupy her chair. Before her were the two sofas that seated her club members. On the sofa to her right sat all eight of the regular servants – all bunched on to one sofa, making for a very cramped living space. On the parallel sofa facing them sat Taro Gin, stretching his arms out across the back of the chair, with a wide smile plastered across his face.

"You know I don't bite, guys," he said to those on the other sofa with a nervous laugh.

They responded by shooting daggers from their eyes at him.

"Damn, tough crowd," Taro muttered to himself.

"Good afternoon, club members. I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome our newest club member: Taro Gin. I know he might seem like a dick, and basically is one, but try to be friendly to him," Rias instructed.

"Thanks for the kind words and support," Taro said to her, giving her a thumbs up.

"Our first order of business is to sort out our present living arrangements," Rias began, "we currently reside in the home of the Hyoudou family. Whilst they remain kind to us in the absence of their son, of whom we are unable to give a truthful answer on the whereabouts of, there is an air of awkwardness surrounding the situation. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can relieve this awkwardness or temporarily move away whilst we await Issei's return?"

After an initial minute of silence, Taro piped up: "you could come and live with me?"

"I'm sorry?" Rias responded.

"You saw my house, it's massive. There's definitely enough space for more people," said Taro.

"Whilst that is a tempting offer, I'd rather we didn't resort to squatting, in the same way that I assume you are," replied Rias.

"I'm not a squatter. I own the place."

"How can a lone _boy_ afford such a house?"

"When I need money I convince rich men to give me money with my eye technique. A particularly wealthy and generous gentleman donated the money for me to buy my house."

"So you resorted to thievery?" Xenovia weighed in, "we will have no part in your sinful activity."

"I prefer to think of myself as being like Robin Hood – I take from the rich and give to the poor – with, in this case, the poor being me," Taro retorted.

"So you only rob from bad rich men?" Asia said, her face lighting up at the prospect of this fellow not being as dickish as she initially thought.

"No, not quite, it tends to be based on whoever I can find. But I'll start only robbing from bad rich men from now on, if you'd like," Taro responded.

"They'll be no more stealing of any sort on your part, Taro," barked Rias, but with a softer tone she then said "but you have managed to convince me. We will try out living at your place in the short term, as it seems like the simplest solution."

"Great," Taro replied.

After finding a solution to the first order of business, Rias moved on to the usual things – assigning tasks to her club members and sending them away. By the end of this, only Akeno and Taro remained.

"Before I send you two on your way, we need to sort out the binding contract Taro agreed to," said Rias, "and I'd also like to discuss Taro's powers."

"What would you like to know?" Taro asked.

"Your powers are essentially more developed versions of the basic powers of devils. All," Rias hesitated, "most devils are able to teleport themselves from place to place (thinking back to Issei's inability to teleport in his early beginnings), but you've taken the teleporting one step further. In a similar ilk, many high class devils can bend people to their will, but your ability seems like a far more developed version. Is your power set basically just more developed versions of basic techniques?"

"Perhaps," he responded.

Rias tried to hold back her frustration at this inadequate response, "and you demonstrated knowledge of my club that goes far beyond what most devils, let alone strays, know of us, how?"

"I know things."

"What 'things'?"

"Now if I told you that I'd have-"

"Let me guess, you'd have to kill us?" Rias interrupted, with frustration etched across her face.

"No, if I told you that I'd have no air of mystery surrounding me, and I'd lose some my sex appeal."

"Sex appeal?"

"Indeed. Akeno gets it, I can tell that she'd love a bit of this," said Taro, gesturing to Akeno on the sofa facing him, "what can I say? The looks, the charm, it just works."

Before Rias could respond Akeno weighed in: "I would not 'love a bit of this', thank you very much," Akeno informed him angrily, before turning to Rias, "now Rias, what do you need me in here for? I'd like to get away from _him_ as soon as possible," with Akeno turning towards Taro to glare at him.

"I love you too," he said with a friendly smile, "I mean how could I not? You're amazing. Our babies would be beautiful. And that goes for you too, Rias."

"You make it very difficult for people to like you," Rias informed him with a bored expression across her face, and then turned back to Aneko, "I need your help binding him to a contract of sorts."

"Very well, I'll do anything to stop _him_ getting up to no good," replied Akeno.

"Does that include me 'getting up to no good' with either of you - If you know what I mean?" Taro asked.

"Whilst, sadly, I do know what you mean, I'm not going to grace that question with a response," Rias said tiredly, she was already beginning to sense that letting this delinquent into her club was going to be a bad idea.

"Don't hate the player, hate the game," retorted Taro.

Rias ignored Taro and began to speak: "Akeno, I need you to help me put a binding sigil on him that will inflict an immense amount of pain upon him if he goes out of line."

Akeno giggled, "that sounds just like my sort of thing. This will be fun."

"How will this sigil be placed on me exactly?" Taro enquired.

"Like a tattoo, but infused with magic," Rias responded.

"A tattoo? No, I'm good actually. Can't I just give you my word on a man's honour? A tattoo sounds a bit needless and painful."

"What, is it our tough little 'player' afraid of needles?" Akeno laughed.

"No, I just don't care for them."

"Your word means nothing, you are no man, and you have no honour. None of those things will suffice," Rias informed him.

"Pretty please?" Taro begged.

"Stop being a baby, if you don't act like a little bitch whilst we give you the sigil, Akeno and I will give you a kiss," Rias told him.

"Deal," replied Taro, his tone becoming far more eager.

 _ **/**_

Later that evening, the company of the Occult Research Club moved into Taro's home. Once bedrooms had been assigned – and after the rejection of Taro's offer for the girls to all share his room – they gathered in Taro's living area. Rias had insisted on the room being arranged to match her office at the club's meeting headquarters. On this occasion, Taro was joined on his sofa by Akeno, who had found a new form of amusement. After having the sigil placed on his left wrist, he had taken to holding it tightly with his right hand and looking at it with tears in his eyes, trying to hold back the pain. Akeno had found it rather amusing to try and poke his left wrist, enjoying how he reacted by crying out and whimpering.

"Come on, let me poke it, stop being a baby – it doesn't hurt that much," she taunted him.

"No, stop it, Akeno," he wailed, which she responded to by giggling. After finally breaking through his defences to give his wrist a strong poke he replied by crying out "ow, shit, you bitch!" which she found intensely funny and almost fell on the floor in her laughing state.

After wiping away his tears – which he initially tried to do using Akeno's skirt, but was faced with a strong objection and an even harder poke to his wrist, which set him back a bit – Taro turned to Rias and said: "I believe I'm own two kisses for being big, brave boy."

"No, you were a little bitch throughout. No kisses for you," Rias responded with a wide grin.

Taro wept even more after this, "I hath been robbed," he cried.

"You shouldn't have worried about losing your air of mystery taking away your sex appeal, as this performance has certainly done it," Akeno told him.

"Really, because it seems to have drawn you in?" Taro replied. In response, Akeno punched him where a man would rather not be punched. "Interesting choice of where to put your hand," he wheezed, with his battle against crying becoming even more intense.

 _ **/**_

As the night drew in, plans for slumber had to be forgotten after Rias was alerted to the presence of a demonic creature in her territory. She gathered her troops and gave them their instructions.

"… Gaspar, I want you to try and freeze this creature to allow us the best chance of dealing with it. My sources tell me it's a big boy," Rias said, giving Gaspar his instructions.

"Yes, ma'am," Gaspar replied.

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold on just one second. Why is there a boy dressed as a girl here? When did he get here?" Taro interrupted.

"You didn't know I was here or part of the group?! But I was the one that froze you, allowing us to capture you!" Gaspar cried, bursting into tears – for he is a sensitive soul.

"Sorry, mate, but I generally only notice females – particularly girls as attractive as these," Taro informed him, "and men of whom I view as competition – like the pretty boy over there," pointing at Kiba.

"It's rude to point," Kiba reminded him blankly.

"Jeez, is there ever a moment when you don't cause an issue, Taro?" Rias said, again feeling tired from having to put up with him.

"I'll have to get back to you," Taro replied.

Finally able to return to the task at hand, the Occult Research Club found their way to an old warehouse – the supposed home of this stray creature.

"I suppose this is one of the only places that's tall enough to house such a creature," Rossweisse proposed.

"The best route of entry is to go round and go through the backdoor entrance," Rias informed them.

"Whey," Taro laughed, "backdoor entrance."

"You might actually be worse than Issei," Koneko muttered, holding her head in her hands.

"Shut up," Rias told him bluntly.

"You're so hot when you're angry with me," Taro told her.

Rias ignored him and led to the team to the backdoor entrance of the warehouse. The door was locked. Rias gestured to Koneko to come over and bust the door down. Koneko came over and, with a surge of power, smashed the door open.

"Okay, let's go," Rias whispered to her team.

"Good idea, let's whisper. Just in case the loud bang that probably woke up half the town hasn't alerted the creature to our presence," said Taro.

They entered into a pitch black room. Whilst their eyes adjusted, all they could sense was movement around them, based on hearing rustling in the background.

"Oh no, I'm scared. I don't like the dark!" Gaspar whispered, tears flooding his eyes.

"Stop being a little bitch and grow a pair, you're meant to be a boy," Taro shouted at him, which only proved to cause Gaspar to cry even more. Taro's feelings of guilt, however, were interrupted by a low growl in the background.

"What was that?" Asia asked.

"My stomach. Sorry, I forgot to eat before we left," Taro replied. Then an even louder growl filled the room. "I can categorically confirm that wasn't my stomach that time," Taro informed them.

Out from the darkness came a long than it is wide (so phallic shaped) piece of flesh that sent Asia, Koneko, Gaspar and Irina flying through the air. It was a tail. Obviously, what else would it be? A penis? Get your mind out of the gutter, please.

Just as the club's compatriots seemed to be heading for a mighty thump against the wall, they disappeared and appeared firmly on the ground on the opposite side of where the group stood to where they'd been sent flying.

"Don't worry, girls," Taro began, "and Gaspar, I've got your backs. I've got everyone's backs," finishing by giving them a wave.

The creature hurtled through the darkness at them, its teeth bared. This wretched being was quite the menacing site. It looked like a giant Komodo Dragon - with it being the size of three elephants, length wise – but twice as menacing, due to it possessing crocodile like mouth, which they could only imagine what hid inside. But their imagination was soon given answers, when its' jaws opened wide, as it threw itself in their direction, showing off a full set of sharp and pointy teeth, that looked like they could pierce through your body with little effort. The club members thought they'd have enough time to ready themselves for the beast, but they were wrong – it possessed an unnatural speed for its size and proportions. As it's opened lower jaw attempted to scoop them into its mouth, many found themselves closing their eyes and waiting for the inevitable crunch. But it never came.

Instead, as they finally gathered the strength to open their eyes, they found the welcomed sight of the creature being on the other side of the room. Upon the realisation of what had happened they looked to Taro with admiration somehow slipping into their gaze.

"To reiterate: I've got your backs. But, please, come on; get your shit together, people. I'm not a one man team, I can't do this alone," Taro said, clasping his quenched left fist into his opened right hand in an attempt to be motivational. And it seemed to work.

Rias' club members found a new source of strength in this close shave with a gruesome death. They unearthed a new sense of courage in this time of adversity and found themselves prepared to take this monster head on. The sword wielders led the charge. They drove their blades into the sizes of the beast, and the creature replied with screams of pain. Every time they monster tried to swipe them away with one of its massive feet they were teleported to the other side of the creature, allowing them to attack a different side, inflicting it with pain on multiple fronts.

Koneko followed suit and used her low centre of gravity to move swiftly under the beast, attacking it from below where it was unable only able to swipe for her blindly. Whenever the creature's wild swipes got too close for comfort, Taro teleported her elsewhere to a safer location.

Gaspar continued to cower in fear, unable to focus enough to freeze only the beast. Both the loss of Issei and the sharp tongue of Taro had resulted in a loss of confidence on his part. And the terrifying qualities of what faced them also didn't help his nerves.

Akeno and Rossweisse took to the air to provide a more long distance method of combat. They shot beams of lightning at the creature, causing it a great deal of distress. It particularly took exception to one of Akeno's lightning bolts hitting it right in the face. Diverting its intention from that which was on the ground, it raised itself so that it now stood on its hind legs, raising itself to Akeno's level. Whilst those on the ground continued to strike at its lower legs and tail, it ignored them and gave all its attention to Akeno, moving towards her, its eyes transfixed upon her. Rossweisse attempted to divert attention away from Akeno with various elemental attacks but it maintained its focus on the girl who hit it in the head.

Rias decided this was her moment to intervene but Taro, who was just to the side of her, raised his across her to stop her. "Wait, anything you do might catch Akeno in the crossfire, I've got this." Rias nodded and gestured for him to do what was necessary.

Akeno tried to get the monster to back away by firing lightning bolts at it but it proceeded without caution, and however much she threw at it the monster remained intent on getting to her, never breaking from its step. It wasn't as quick on two legs as it was on four, but its slow pace and heavy steps made it all the more menacing a prospect for Akeno. "Oh, shit," she cried out, as she began to feel helpless. The monster drew closer and opened its jaws wide, before lunging at Akeno in an attempt to swallow her whole. Akeno screamed and closed her eyes, again finding herself waiting for the inevitable crunch and sweet release of death, but again it never came.

"Have you got something in your eye, you seem pretty intent on keeping them closed?" a familiar voice said to her.

Akeno turned and saw she had returned to the safety of the other side of the warehouse, alongside Rias and Taro, who was gripping her back.

"That was a close one for the both of us there, by the time I'd made it to you I almost found myself swallowed too," Taro began, "for I deemed it necessary that I teleport over in person as I find my abilities more predictable when I'm teleporting myself."

"Thank you," she said quietly, blushing.

"Don't worry, baby doll, as I've said previously: I've got everyone's backs. In your case, quite literally," Taro told her, gesturing to the hand that was still on her back.

Akeno couldn't help but laugh at this, "have you left it there just so you could make that quip?"

He nodded, "of course. My dedication to humour is unrivalled."

"Now, Akeno, let's obliterate this fucker," Rias said with a determined smile.

"Yes, let's," replied Akeno, with a matching smirk.

They turned to the beast and shouted to their comrades to back away, no more pissing around - they had weakened it enough to make one powerful strike enough to eliminate this foe. Rias and Akeno unleashed a great burst of power upon this creature. The monster let loose a bloody curdling scream, but this was its last action. When the smoke cleared, nothing remained where it once stood but ashes.

"Yes, go Team Taro!" Taro cried in jubilation.

"That's not what we're called," Rias informed him.

"It is now," Taro informed her.

 _ **/**_

Rias looked across the living room and towards her newest member, glowing with a new sense of pride. No longer was he sat alone, but instead amongst his new peers – finally a part of the group, and not on the outskirts. They no longer look at him with disdain as the one who made fools of them whilst objectifying them, but as a teammate who provided them with cover and moral support when they needed it.

"Gaspar, I'd like to apologise to you for my comments earlier," Taro said to Gaspar, "I shouldn't have been so rude to you. I know what you've gone through, both in the long term and immediate past, in terms of what you've lost, and yet I thought it right to be cruel to you."

"Oh, well, it's alright, Taro," Gaspar replied shyly.

"No, no it is not. I need to make this up for you. I have been postulating ways to help you get more confident, and I believe I have come up with a situation," Taro told Gaspar. "Wearing girl's clothes makes you feel more comfortable, doesn't it? Well I have used this logic to come to this conclusion, I want you to try wearing these pair of high heels," said Taro, pulling out a shoebox from under the sofa.

"How exactly will this help his confidence?" asked Kiba, a doubter.

"It's just a theory at present, try them on and let's see how you feel," said Taro. He handed the box to Gaspar, who slowly opened the box and pulled the heels out. He laid them out on the floor, where he slipped out of his present shoes and slipped his feet into the heels. "Try walking in them," Taro instructed.

Gaspar did so, almost falling over at first, but Koneko caught his arm and pushed him back upright. He continued with his attempts, eventually developing a system to it and becoming more able to walk in his shoes. "Yeah, I do feel strangely more confident in these," Gaspar said.

"It is as I expected," said Taro, "high heeled shoes are often considered to be for those who are confident enough to wear them, and for those who feel more confident when wearing them – perhaps because it allows them to stand a couples inches taller."

Rias held her head in her hands at this incident, whilst he may finally be gaining acceptance from the group, he still maintains the same character flaws. Rias drew her mind back to when she first laid eyes upon him in class. She remembered the feeling of familiarity she had regarding him, which she still hadn't shaken off – she felt that they'd met before, but she couldn't put her finger on when. The name 'Taro Gin' meant nothing to her. Regardless, there were still things that left her uneasy regarding Taro, and she needed to uncover why. At least, uneasiness was the feeling she thought she had regarding him.

 _ **/**_

The group began to disperse and return to their night chambers, as Taro got up to do likewise he found a hand wrap around his arm and pull him back down. He turned to find that this hand belonged to a nervous looking Akeno. "May I help you?" he asked her.

"No, you've helped me more than enough and I've still not really thanked you for it," Akeno replied.

"No 'thank yous' necessary, making sure that you're still alive so that I get to see your beautiful face and figure is more than enough, my dear."

Akeno blushed at this. They were alone now, everyone else had returned to their rooms.

"I'd just like to properly say 'thank you' for saving my life. I'm not at my best currently, and that almost proved costly, but you're the reason I'm still here right now. In spite of your flaws, you're not a bad guy," said Aneko, who then leapt across the sofa to hug Taro.

Taro grimaced, 'o _h my days, I can feel her tits pressing against me. STAY CALM, Taro, you pride yourself on your composed disposition. Don't get a boner, don't get a-…_ '

"Is that your gun or are you just happy to see me?" Akeno whispered into his ear seductively. He grew.

"Well it can't be my gun, as I had my gun license suspended after I shot a guy in the ankle after I'd had my first alcoholic beverage. He looked at me funny, you see. It was a particularly sad moment as I lost two recently acquired items that day – my gun and my fake ID. A very sorry state of affairs, I must say," Taro informed her.

Akeno chuckled at this and then kissed him on the cheek, before getting up and making her way to the staircase, "good night, Taro," and with that she proceeded up the stairs and was gone.

"Yes, yes it has been. A very good night," Taro murmured to himself.

 _ **/**_

Taro stared up at his bedroom ceiling, holding on to the lingering memory of his previous interaction with Akeno. ' _Who knew that just telling a girl she was clearly gagging for you would actually make them start gagging for you? It's like reverse-reverse-psychology. If only I'd uncovered this earlier in my life._ '

His trail of thought was interrupted by a knock on his door. He reluctantly got out of his bed and dragged himself to the door. He opened the door to find the welcomed site of Rias Gremory in her nightgown. ' _Nice.'_

"Hello, Taro," Rias began, "may I come in?"

Taro nodded and stepped out of the doorway, giving her entry into his room. She strolled in, with Taro closing the door behind her, and she sat herself on the edge of his bed. "Come, sit with me," she said to him, gesturing to the space next to her on the edge of his bed.

After he sat down and turned his head towards her, she began to speak.

"I'd like to start off by thanking you for your efforts. You galvanised an out-of-sorts team and gave us the fighting strength to win this battle. It was very pleasing for me to see that you seem to have finally been accepted by the rest of the club. Issei gave everyone a sense of protection, as he always seemed to pull it out of the bag. You seemed to have gone some way towards restoring this feeling, even if your style is more defensive than Issei's heavily offensive way of going into combat.

"However, there are two questions I'd like to ask you that I _need_ answers to."

"Ask away," Taro replied.

"The first question relates to when we apprehended you. Since meeting us you have the made the bold claim that you 'know things.' When I told Gaspar to freeze you hesitated and watched on in anticipation. For your bold claim to have merit, surely you must have known what his power set is, yet you didn't teleport. Furthermore, even if you didn't know his power set, surely my instruction for him to something was enough of a prompt for you to move, but you remained, standing in one place like a statue. Which brings me to my question, were you holding back when we captured you?"

"Yes," Taro replied bluntly.

"Why?"

"Now, now, you only get two questions – your words, not mine. Is this really the second question you wish to ask me?"

Rias groaned with frustration, "no, I have another question I'd like to ask you too."

"Well what's more important then? The 'why' question or this other one? If you're lucky, maybe I'll be able to answer both questions in one," Taro responded. "If you're about to ask the question I think you are then you'll get an answer to both," he added.

"Have we met before? When I first saw you in class I felt a sense of familiarity regarding you. Was this feeling misplaced or have we met before?" Rias demanded.

"Bingo, that was the question we wanted," Taro said with a smirk. "And, yes, we have met before. Over the years I have adopted many names in my attempts to escape the grasps of exorcists, fallen angels, angels, the chaos brigade and devils. But my first name, my original name, was Taro Tokushumono. I hope that rings a bell with you."

It did. Taro Tokushumono was the first person she ever approached about becoming one of her servants and the only person to reject her offer. Rias came to him as he fled his home in the wake of his parents' assassination. The Tokushumono family were made up of generations of leading devil generals – well regarded military tacticians. Taro Tokushumono's father, Hose, was one of those in line to become a leading devil after the great war, but instead he and his wife found himself to one of the first casualties of the developing Chaos Brigade. Their son escaped, but still pursued, and Rias came to him to offer salvation – but he rejected the offer.

"At the time, I felt a deep mistrust for my fellow devils, as devils had murdered my parents - hence why I rejected your offer. Since uncovering the truth regarding this matter, that it was by a separate group of devils, I have deeply regretted my decision. I have spent many a night thinking about what could've been if I had accepted your offer.

"I grew tired of running from those who wished to stop a stray devil causing mischief as a means to a living, and those who wished to just plain eliminate devils. I came here with the set plan of becoming part of your team, as I should've years ago. I held back so that you could capture me, but I did enough to allow you to see that I was worthy of being part of your squad."

Rias found herself welling up at this tale, but still felt some resentment towards him for having the audacity to reject her.

"You were beautiful back then, but I had no idea you'd blossom into something so amazing and develop such a fantastic set of breasts. If I'd had that knowledge then I definitely wouldn't have rejected your offer. If I'd known who you go on to recruit I definitely would not have. Pretty girls like Akeno, Koneko, Asia, Xenovia, Rossweisse, and Irina. And now that they don't hate me anymore, they seem like great girls too. They have a 'great pair of personalities' in both senses of the word when referring to a woman. Who knows what could've become of me if I'd accepted the offer. I could have been your husband – I am a pure blooded devil from a well-respected family after all – or, even better, by now I might have a harem!"

Rias' heart sank at this statement, as memories of Issei came flooding in. She couldn't help but smile through the tears.

"I know that I'm a cunt," Taro added.

"Yes, you are a bit," Rias replied with a smile.

"But I've always wanted to be your cunt," said Taro, "wait, no, that came out wrong," with Taro becoming rather sheepish.

Rias laughed at this, and appreciated the sentiment nonetheless.

' _This is going to be difficult. I need to break from my usual character and get really emotionally deep. Here goes,_ ' Taro thought to himself before turning back to Rias to speak.

"For me, Rias Gremory, you are the one that got away – in a sense – and presently my life's biggest regret. To hold you close tonight, I'd wait for life."

And with those beautiful words, Rias' heart melted. She lunged at Taro and kissed him passionately.

' _Who knew that getting in touch with your feelings was a sure-fire way to make a girl crave you? Again, if only I'd know sooner in life._ '

"I'm so sorry, Taro, that you've had to spend your life on the run. I should've come back for you, but I let my ego get in the way. How has the thought never crossed my mind that the loss of your parents at the hands of devils caused a deep mistrust of them? Oh, how sorry I am," Rias cried, pulling him into her bosom in a deep hug.

"No, it's alright. Like myself at the time, you were a child and such things rationale was beyond the simple mind of a child," Taro responded, pulling Rias in closer to him and his face deeper into her breasts. This was exactly the kind of reward he wanted for breaking out of character and losing his normally light hearted manner.

Rias spent the night with him in his bed, allowing him to not have to wait for life to get the opportunity to hold her close tonight – unaware of the unoriginality of his words (Google it) – with Rias wrapped tightly in Taro's arms, whose hands may have accidentally strayed one or two times, with Taro emphasising the 'accidentally' each time. Rias forced herself to overcome her guilt regarding Issei over this. She wasn't willing to accept he was gone for good, but she knew she needed to move on. Maybe she could have a harem of her own too? She smiled at this thought as she was swept over by sleep. ' _That would be nice_.'


	3. Chapter 1,3: These Days

**The Love Octagon Venn Diagram**

 _A High School DxD fanfic_

 _By me_

 _Rated M_

Chapter 3: These Days

Taro woke up to the most wondrous of sights upon one's first waking – breasts. His jaw dropped lower than his ball sac at this vision of ecstasy. ' _Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, I've got a wonderful feeling, everything's going my way_.' Taro found himself accidentally humming this, as well as thinking it, inadvertently waking Rias up. Her eyes fluttered open to the sight of him crying tears of joy.

"Morning, Taro, why are you crying?" she asked him sympathetically.

"Oh, nothing, it's just that's it's such a beautiful morning," he replied.

She glanced across to the window to see that rain was pouring down, whilst the sky was a grim grey colour. "No, it's not," she informed him.

"It is from where I'm looking," he replied, a jitter in his voice as his weeping became heavier, his vision transfixed on her bosom.

"Taro, my eyes are up here."

"Yes, dear, you are someone who's naturally beautiful in the morning."

"What?"

"What?"

"What?"

"What? What? What?"

"Okay, now it's just you saying 'what' over and over again to draw focus away from the fact you weren't paying attention to what I was saying," Rias said, reprimanding him.

"I apologise, I was a little bit distracted," Taro responded, "by your tits."

"Yes, I know."

"Oh, it wasn't clear."

She sighed, "you really are very silly at times," she kissed him on the cheek and proceeded to get out of bed, "and Taro, darling, you appear to have a nosebleed."

 _ **/**_

"Hello all," Rias began, "after our recent performances on past missions, I think that we are in dire need of another journey away for training."

Various groans echoed throughout the room. The prospect of another gruelling training trip was an intimidating prospect. However, Taro, in his ignorance, interpreted this message in an alternative fashion.

"So what you're saying is we're about to go on a holiday away?" posed Taro to Rias.

"A trip, but not a holiday," Rias responded.

"Where I'll be with my main boys: Kiba and Gaspar?" Taro asked.

"Sure," answered Rias.

"Why are we your 'main boys'? We've literally never hung out together in a recreational environment?" Kiba murmured in the background, but was ignored.

"And this trip will compose of me being alongside several beautiful women?" Taro enquired.

"I suppose so," Rias retorted.

"My word, so what you're saying is that we're going on a lads tour? LADS ON TOUR! LADS ON TOUR! LADS ON TOUR!" Rias chanted wildly, jumping up in down in his seat and pumping his fists in the air.

 _ **/**_

"Why are we taking public transport? This is so low budget. Getting the fucking train like I'm a fucking peasant," Taro complained.

"It's raining and I don't want to get my hair wet. Otherwise, we'd be walking up the cliff face that we're instead travelling up by public transport," Rias told him.

"Why couldn't we have got a private car or a private plane? Isn't your dad rich or something?" Taro continued to whinge.

"But you wouldn't gain anything from that. The walk would have improved your stamina, but this will improve your endurance too – having to put up with the confined spaces of being on a train and having to stay standing on this train for two hours," Rias responded.

"My stamina is fine, I'm happy to show you that any time," Taro retorted with a cheeky wink.

"My, my," said Akeno, from behind him, with a chuckle.

The train was packed to the brim with passengers. When they first got on the train there were a few available seats, of which they gave the weaker and smaller club members, with Asia, Gaspar and Koneko occupying seats. The rest were forced to stand. After passing through several stops the train had steadily filled, with the train now so crammed there was a risk of the train's contents spilling out. ' _Spilling out like boobs out of a bra that's too small_ ,' Taro thought to himself. He was jammed into such a tight space that he could barely breath – not that he was complaining about his positioning, between Rias and Akeno, feeling their body cushions pressed against him on both sides, hard-pressed against both of his elbows. Such considerations were enough to make his mouth water.

"He's got that look in his eye again, Rias," Aneko giggled.

"Yes, the look he gets when he has lustful thoughts. It's like when-…" Rias replied, but paused before finishing her sentence.

"It's like when Issei had similar thoughts," Aneko said finishing Rias' sentence, and the two smiled at each other as the fondly remembered their lost comrade.

Whilst they temporarily found themselves lost in a past moment, Rias recovered herself and reminded her friend that "as much I'd love for someone to take me back to where it all began, to where our memories grow, we need to live for and remember these days." Akeno nodded in agreement, but with regret and hesitation in her gesture.

The train began to enter through a period of turbulence and Taro seized upon this golden opportunity. He decided now was the time to draw on his research, taking inspiration from that hentai where the male protagonist accidentally sexually harasses four women on a train, with these women later turning out to be his new live-in tutors, with all eventually having coitus with him. Not that he, or I for that matter, would know anything of such things – for one is not the type of fellow to engage in the viewing of hentai. Both Taro and I were told of this particular hentai by a friend, okay?

As the train shuffled from side to side, Taro attempted to give the impression and that it had thrown him off balance and that he was now reaching out for support to stabilise himself. He let his hands wander in their search for 'balance'. He threw himself around in unison with the train. When the train fell to one side, he'd move with it. When the train fell to the right, he'd do likewise and use his right hand to cup one of Rias' breasts, making sure to accompany this with an "oh, sorry." When it went to the left, he moved in the same direction, but this time his left hand fell on to one of Akeno's, also accompanying this with an apology. Rias moaned in response to his hand, whilst Akeno replied with a giggle and a "my, my."

After several repeats of this routine, the train finally entered a more consistent environment where its tendency to shake from side to side coming to an end. This incident culminated in the train reaching another stop, with more people getting on the train.

"Sorry about that, girls, I just couldn't keep my balance," Taro explained to the two.

"Really, because it seemed to me that you were rather enjoying that? I think you might have been forcing all those movements yourself," Rias said with a wry smile.

"I'm outraged at that suggestion, I am no liar, Rias!" Taro responded in a hushed shout, "and what makes you think I was enjoying it?"

"Well, other than the smile on your face and the look in your eye, another tell-tale sign has also come into play," Rias informed him.

"How so?" Taro asked.

"More people have just got on the train, forcing Akeno and I inwards, so that we've now both been thrusted against you and against each other. We are both able to feel something poking about between us that symbolises you may be enjoying something," said Rias.

"For all you know that could be my gun," Taro replied, whilst also attempting to cross his arms in a resolute fashion.

"You told me that you had your gun license revoked," Akeno retorted with a playful smile.

"True," Taro began, "all cards on the table: it's not my gun."

 _ **/**_

After a long and arduous journey, they finally arrived at their train stop. The Occult Research Club had to make the final part of their journey, on foot, in the rain – of which didn't look like ceasing its downfall anytime soon. They trekked to the summit of the hill they had been dropped off at the midway point of. Upon arriving at their accommodation, Rias allowed her team the opportunity to dry themselves off, but the chance to have a hot bath was put on hold for the time being, as they needed to get some training in whilst it was still relatively light outside, even with the grey clouds blocking out much of the light.

The club members gathered outside of the accommodation – a building with only a ground floor, but still containing many rooms, for it was a large building width-wise.

Rias faced them and said: "as there isn't much time left today we'll just settle for some basic physical exercises to get us warmed up. I want 100 laps around the summit, followed by 100 press ups, and then we'll start giving you weight to carry when you do it."

"Nah, you're alright," Taro replied and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Where did he go?" Xenovia enquired, matching her teammates in their frantic looking around.

"That bastard's gone and bailed on us," said Koneko infuriatedly.

"Should we activate the sigil?" Akeno asked Rias.

"No, we'll wait until he gets back. I want to see him suffer for this," Rias responded, anger etched across her face, with fire burning in her eyes.

 _ **/**_

Two or three hours later, when training was finished and those who had partaken were now settled in the warmth of inside the accommodation, their resting was interrupted by the sound of someone whistling. The sound seemed to be getting closer, coming up the hill. Then a knock on the door echoed through the room.

Rias slowly got up and carried herself to the door, she opened the door a crack and peered out. As she looked at the being on the side of the door, she was filled with rage.

"Alright?" Taro said, on the other side of the door.

"What were you trying to pull today exactly?" Rias barked at him.

"I just didn't fancy it, to be honest," Taro replied, "but I bought gifts for everyone," holding up a large carrier bag in his left hand.

"You may come in and give people their gifts, but afterwards we are going back outside to receive your punishment. You had me worried sick. What if you'd got hurt?"

"I'm sorry, I was selfish and it won't happen again."

"You better be, yes you were, and it better not."

Rias stepped out of the way of the door, giving him entry. Taro went around the room handing out presents, with most of these presents being very cheap and food-based. He eventually came to Rias and handed her a small black box. Rias opened the box and found a diamond necklace.

"Ah, I see, so he went down the jewellery route in an attempt to rectify his error of judgement. A craft move," Kiba said.

"I knew she'd be the most pissed with me, so I ending up using most of my budget on her present," Taro replied to him.

"It's beautiful," Rias said, her eyes lighting up as she gazed it, "but it's not enough. You're still in big trouble, young man."

Taro cursed.

"Come outside so I can give you your punishment," Rias instructed Taro.

"Come on, Rias, can you really be made at me?" Taro said, strolling up to her, clasping her hands and staring into her eyes.

"If you try and use your eye technique on me you'll be sleeping alone tonight," Rias barked at him, closing her eyes and tapping the sigil on Taro's left wrist. He yelled as a burst of pain coursed through his body, she remained unsympathetic and told him to "get outside. Now."

"But it's raining," he whined.

"Tough luck," Rias retorted. She dragged Taro out of the accommodation and pointed to the floor, "get on your hands and knees."

"Alright, Rias, let's get freaky. Nice," Taro chortled, a wide grin across his face.

"Your punishment shall be one thousand spankings."

"Wait, what? You spank me and I will either teleport your hand so you end up spanking yourself, or I'll teleport my own hand and spank you every time you spank me."

"Ooh, my, my," laughed Akeno in the background as Rias pushed Taro to the floor.

"I dare you to, Taro," Rias said sharply. Rias then brought her right hand down and crashed into Taro's rear end.

Taro swore loudly in response. His hand subsequently appeared behind Rias and administered a simply treatment. Rias cried out and cursed in Taro's direction.

"I am your master and you are my servant. Stop this immediately, I demand it!" Rias shouted at him.

This routine proceeded to be repeated several times, with the rest looking on awkwardly.

"This is weird isn't?" Koneko muttered.

"Yes, I do believe it is," Kiba responded in a similarly hushed tone.

 _ **/**_

Eventually, Taro was willing to stop responding to Rias' punishment by giving her the same in response, and he took the rest of the spankings without making any more vocal complaints. At the culmination of his punishment, Rias sank to her knees to put herself level alongside him and wrapped her arms around him.

"You know you make it very difficult for people to like you?" she told him.

"Nah, loving me is easy because I'm beautiful," he retorted.

Rias ignored his reply, "I was genuinely worried about you. Don't do that again," she said and proceeded to pull him in closer.

"And I'm genuinely sorry," Taro said with a lighter tone, enfolding the closest arm to her around her shoulders.

"But you know you're still going to have to suffer through training. It'll just have to be a late night for you and I," Rias informed him, releasing him instantly.

"Actually, I'm feeling a bit of an injury coming on - I think I've pulled my hamstring, so I don't think I'm in the right shape for such a demanding regime sadly," Taro said, pleading.

"No excuses, you're doing this and that's final," replied Rias, not tolerating any bullshit.

Taro cursed again in response. A montage followed of the rigorous training programme imposed on Taro, whilst the others remained inside in the warmth – away from the ever pouring rain that still showed no signs of letting up. Taro was put through his paces, being made to do everything he ran from in the morning. He had to do one hundred laps around the summit and one hundred press ups to begin with. This was followed by the increase in weight that was earlier promised. It started off with a steady increase in the number of bags he had to carry whilst either doing press ups or laps. When performing the laps around the summit with the increased weight, Taro attempted to cut corners by teleporting when out of sight but Rias quickly became aware of his tricks and reprimanded him for it with another burst of pain from his sigil.

"This is domestic abuse," he wept, caressing his arm where the pain had first originated from and where it was at its most intense.

"We're outside," Rias responded bluntly.

Taro continued to wail, whist Rias remained wholly unsympathetic. Eventually, the additional move went from Taro having to carry luggage to having to carry Rias on his back during the exercises. Whilst such a change had its positives – either her legs were wrapped around his neck or her behind on his back – he was also faced with having to carry quite a bit of weight throughout these tough exercises (although he wasn't stupid enough to say anything about the increase in weight as one shouldn't comment on a lady's weight).

"Is this that primary school thing where you're mean to the person you like?" Taro asked, fighting back the tears.

"Nope, I made everyone else train like this too. You need to improve your stamina," Rias replied.

"I would've been happy to show you how good my stamina later tonight," said Taro with a chuckle.

Rias smacked him round the head. "No talking," she barked at him, although Taro was certain she was smiling.

 _ **/**_

At long last, Taro's gruelling training exercises came to an end and he was finally allowed to return inside. The others had stayed up to greet him and had even prepared food for him, to warm him up after battling the cold of the rain alongside his fight with doing exercise. Rias looked on with a smile across her face, seeing how Taro had helped restore morale and replenish spirits – her friends were smiling again.

The Occult Research Club members crowded around Taro as he ate. Akeno sat to his right, gripping his right arm tightly and pulling it close to her chest, whilst whispering into his ear. From what Rias could make out from her attempts at lip reading, Akeno was saying something about either Taro spanking her, her spanking Taro, or both – either way, Taro's eyes were lighting up with glee and surprise at what she was saying and giving her shocked looks, which she replied too with laughter. Rossweisse, Kiba and Irina sat across from him on the opposite sofa, but looked at Taro with affection and interest, whilst Xenovia and Asia sat to his left with similar looks on their face in Taro's direction. Gaspar and Koneko had perched themselves at his feet, looking up at him.

To see Taro truly accepted by the rest of the group after a difficult start made Rias smile. They'd found their new protector and the holes in their heart were no longer as deep, but they were still there. She could still feel the void and she still missed Issei intensely. As much as she adored Taro and was starting to develop feelings for him, she couldn't escape the memory of Issei after losing him so prematurely. Rias looked to the sky longingly. ' _Come back to me, my Issei_.'

Across the room, despite the attention he was receiving from his compatriots, Taro merely feigned interest in what they were saying whilst his attention drew to Rias, sat by the window. He saw the look of yearning on her face and the tears that had developed in her eyes. He nodded and thought to himself ' _My task is clear. I know what I must do._ '


	4. Chapter 1,4: The Flood

**The Love Octagon Venn Diagram**

 _A High School DxD fanfic_

 _By me_

 _Rated M_

Chapter 4: The Flood

Rias awoke in the arms of Taro at their training camp. Feeling his warmth – for it was unnaturally cold in the room – she burrowed in closer to him.

"Not now, Rias, I'm sleeping. Keep it in your pants," he muttered - although this didn't stop him moving his hands so that they were now on her breasts. She gave an 'ahem' in his direction, but she was ignored. "It seems like you're really feeling the cold from these nipples – they're piercing my palms," he whispered into her ear. ' _Breaking the heater was a genius idea on my part. Well played, me._ '

"From the lack of anything pressing into my behind, it seems like you are too," Rias responded, failing to stop a smirk covering her face.

"That's really rude, you've completely destroyed my confidence. I'm a grower, not a shower."

"Sure you are, honey, sure you are."

"I am," Taro said, beginning to whine. His then tone became more serious as he resumed speaking: "Rias, you haven't told anyone else about my true identity, have you?"

"No, I haven't told anyone."

"Good. And you mustn't. Not your brother. Not the other club members. It's not the right time for my true identity to be revealed. Too much would be expected of me and many more enemies would come my way. I hope this doesn't put you in a difficult spot?"

"It's fine, but you, or I, will have to tell people eventually."

"I know, but not yet."

"Taro, as you're from a family who were once of the most powerful devil clans around, surely you must have a power that extends beyond just developing basic abilities like teleportation and bending people's will?"

"Perhaps I do."

"So do you not know if you do or-?"

"No, I know."

"What is it then?"

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

She punched him. "Is your special ability that you 'know things'?" she asked with a smirk.

"No, that's something different."

"So you're just not telling me then? Why not?"

"Spoilers," he said with a smile, "and I don't want to lose my image as the tall, dark and handsome mystery man that came into your life."

"You're not even six foot."

"Ssh, stop trying to destroy my confidence," he whispered, before pulling her in closer and going back to sleep.

/

"It's still raining outside, it's raining so much it feels unnatural," Koneko said, as the club gathered in the living area of their accommodation, awaiting the arrival of their brave leader and their newest member.

Where they resided sat on top of one of two hills that were positioned side by side, with a river flowing in between the two of them.

"Does the water level look a little bit higher than usual to anyone else?" Rossweisse suggested.

"I can't see the train tracks anymore," Asia replied softly.

"We should go and investigate it!" Irina piped up.

"Shouldn't we wait for Rias and Taro?" Asia suggested.

"We'll leave a note," responded Akeno.

The group travelled into the beating rain, kitted in rain coats to try and maintain warmth and dryness (in case you weren't aware of what a coat does). They trekked down the hillside and followed the rapidly increasing in height river, trailing it until they came to what was a dam. But nothing but water and more water was in its place. On the banks – which were now positioned considerably higher than originally – were several beavers, lying lifeless on the floor.

"Are those beavers dead?" Gaspar whimpered.

"I'm not sure," Koneko responded.

"Wait, that one's chest is moving, albeit very slowly," Xenovia said, pointing to one of the beavers furthest away from them.

As they drew closer they discovered that these particular beavers were quite a bit bigger than your average beaver. The beaver they saw moving turned towards them and, upon spotting them, initially cowered away and tried to cover itself, but recognising that their movements did not give the impression of them being potential adversaries it began to speak.

"Get away, save yourself – before it's too late, before they see you," it murmured, stretching out its paw in their direction and gesturing for them to go.

"Did that beaver just talk?" queried Irina.

"There's something off about these beavers," Koneko remarked.

"This place is looked upon as one of the more magical places in the human world, perhaps this is one of the reasons why – it has magical talking beavers," Akeno informed them.

"Let me help you," Asia said, running over to the beaver and sitting at its feet. She stretched out her hands and allowed them to hover over the beaver, green light spewing.

"What are you doing?" it snarled.

"I'm a healer," Asia replied.

The beaver started to cough and spat out some water. As it began to regain its strength it sat up and turned to them.

"My name is Mingey, please heed my warning. Get out of here while you can. There are evil things at play here," it told them.

"What happened? Please, tell us – we can help. We are devils," Xenovia responded to it.

Mingey looked at them and opened its mouth to speak, but instead hesitated and looked down, the pain of the memory too much. Eventually, courage flowed into Mingey and it finally felt able to tell them of its perils. Mingey coughed a little and then began: "It started off a normal rainy day. The dam reacted accordingly, with the dam releasing the stored or excess water. But the rain kept coming and the dam could no longer take it. Rather than fleeing, we tried to fight it in the knowledge that there is a town at the bottom of the river which is at grave risk. My brothers and I tried in vain to stop the rain. Although no one understood, we were holding back the flood, learning how to dance the rain. There were more of them than us, now they (my brothers) will never dance again."

"More of what than you?" Kiba asked.

"Mermen!" Mingey responded.

"We need to go back and get Rias," Akeno said uneasily, and they did so.

/

"Talking beavers and mermen? Are you high?" Taro cried out.

"No," Kiba resplied bluntly.

"Really? It's just that I don't remember walking through any wardrobes, and yet you guys seem to think we're in Narnia," Taro retorted.

"I have heard of these beavers lurking here, but I didn't think that any of us would see one. May I speak to this beaver?" said Rias.

"Sure, he's waiting just outside," Kiba answered.

Rias was guided out of the accommodation to a most surprising of sights: a beaver the size of a Great Dane dog. She walked over cautiously, not entirely trusting an animal she knew little about.

"Hello, my name is Rias Gremory. I'm given to understand you have been attacked and require aid. We would like to be of assistance to you," Rias said to the beaver.

"Hello, and that is very kind – but I can't put you and these children in danger like this," Mingey responded.

"Oh. My. Days. The beaver actually spoke. Oh my days, oh my days, oh my days. Why is no else making a big deal out of this?" cried Taro, unable to cope with this, waving his hands frantically up and down in an effort to come to terms with what he was seeing.

Rias smacked him round the head, "you're being rude," she scolded him. "We are devils, putting ourselves in danger is what we do. You have said there is a town at risk, it is right for us, no it is our duty, to save them."

They revisited where they'd originally encountered Mingey – this time with their full complement – and returned to find that the river had increased further in size, taking in the dead beaver corpses, rendering them lost – potentially forever.

"My brothers are gone, how am I to give them a proper goodbye to commemorate their memory now? How will they make it to the beaver underworld when their bodies haven't been given the proper burial?" Mingey wept.

"I just can't take him seriously. He's a talking beaver, for fuck's sake lol," laughed Taro.

"Shut up," Rias said, again punching him. Taro winced in pain. "I'm sorry that you won't be able to give your brothers a proper send off, but you can still avenge their deaths."

"Thank you," Mingey responded.

Sphere shaped swellings started to appear on the surface of the water like an erection slowly rising and poking into the clothing in front of it, lifting it up. Eventually the water fell away from these penis head shape growths in the water to reveal giant fish with the body of men.

"This must be a dream for you girls, you must be absolutely wet seeing one of your fantasies becoming a potential reality," Taro said with a smirk.

"What?" Rias questioned ferociously.

"Women dream of mermen rescuing them from the sea," Taro informed her; "I'm given to understand," he added.

"Why would we dream of men with fish heads? In what way would we find this attractive?" she demanded.

"But this way they'd have matching genitalia."

"But they'd still have fish heads! I'm not kissing that!"

"You wouldn't necessarily need to kiss that head."

"Could you two stop bickering so that we can return to the task at hand please?" Koneko requested.

"My apologies, get ready, my servants, the battle is upon us," Rias replied.

The 'mermen' started to wander over in their direction, slowly and menacingly, their fishy faces expressionless. One of them raised a fin and a wave of water was sent in their direction, taking the Occult Research Club by surprise and knocking them down. Rossweisse took to the sky so give her a high vantage point for one of her elemental attacks. Akeno was about to follow her into the air when Taro pulled her back down.

"Your power's too dangerous in this weather. If it wasn't raining and it was just them in the river then it would be okay, no one else would be at risk. But as it's raining and everywhere is wet, everyone would be at risk if you were to fire a bolt of lightning – including yourself – as it's essentially electricity," Taro told her, whilst his gaze remained planted on the incoming mermen.

"Oh, okay, so what should I do?" Akeno asked.

"I think you may have to sit this one out, but we'll see," he replied.

Elsewhere, Rias suddenly came to the realisation of what they were. They were water demons who were a long way from their home in the underworld. She alerted her peers to what they were, whilst trying to work out what purpose these water demons had. Just to cause mischief seemed too basic a reason. There must be more at play here, but she had no idea what.

Rias turned to her team and began to issue out instructions: "Kiba, Xenovia, Irina and Koneko, you cut down those nearest to the riverbank. Rossweisse, you attack those further back with various types elemental attack. If things get too much, Gaspar, I want you to freeze them to give us time to recover, and Taro, I want you to pull anyone out from harm's way when necessary. Asia, you hold back as we don't want to lose our healer."

"Right," the rest said in unison.

"Rias, join Rossweisse in the air. We've lost Akeno so we need someone else up there. I can direct things down here," Taro told her.

"But you don't have any experience of leading a fight," Rias replied.

"I come from a bloodline of tactical geniuses. This is in my DNA, trust me – I've got this," Taro said with a friendly grin.

"Okay," Rias answered. Rias then ascended to the sky to join Rossweisse in attacking those further back.

The plan seemed to be going well, at first. The skilled sword fighters of Kiba, Xenovia and Irina, and the physical powerhouse that is Koneko eliminated those who on the cusp of reaching the riverbank, whilst Rias and Rossweisse reduced the number of those who could climb on to the bank by eradicating those further back. If things did get too much, Gaspar would freeze the water demons to steady the flow, but they seemed to have some resistance to his magic so freezing them didn't last long. At the command of Taro, they overloaded and held back when necessary, to recharge their batteries, target weaknesses and draw attention away from where they were targeting. Taro controlled things like the conductor of an orchestra. But one of the water demon had a eureka moment and came to the realisation that they needed to nullify those in the air, so they could overwhelm those cutting them down on the bank. The water demon raised its frontal fins and two bubbles popped out of them. The bubbles were sent in Rias and Rossweisse' direction - and they appeared to be getting steadily bigger. Rias and Rossweisse attempted to destroy the bubbles but they were unable. Eventually the bubbles reached the two and sucked them in. They tried to break free from them, but the bubble was impenetrable.

The other club members soon found themselves fighting against more than they could manage, despite the careful management of Taro, who showed a clear eye for detail – not missing the chance to tell them what to do and exactly how they should do it. Even Kiba's sacred gear – sword birth – was not able to contain the situation, with more and more rising up from the water. Whenever they thought that they had steadied the flow, they soon discovered that they were sorely mistaken, with the water demons' numbers multiplying at an alarming rate.

"Oh, shit, this is not going well," Taro muttered, seeing that the sword wielders and Koneko were clearly struggling. Even with the aid of he and Gaspar, freezing their foes and teleporting them away when necessary, they were still on the verge of being in a situation that they had no hope of controlling. Taro realised it was time, it was too dangerous for him to continue to hold back. The moment had arisen for him to show the true extent of his power. This was the moment for him to reveal his own sacred gear.

"Akeno my dear, hold my coat," he said, stretching his arms out so that his coat slid down slightly, making it easier or Akeno to take it off, "I'm about to wreck."

"Okay," Akeno responded hesitantly, pulling his coat off from his arms.

"Thank you," said Taro with a smile. He then proceeded to straighten out his suit jacket: pulling at the collar, flattening the sleeves; and pressing down on the material. This was followed by Taro turning his head in both directions to stretch out his neck. "I am now ready," he remarked, "to wreck."

Taro began to jive from side to side, moving his hips steadily, clapping his hands and shifting his fee along the ground. He was dancing.

"It this you 'wrecking', by showing off your atrocious dance moves?" Koneko asked, without affection.

"Just wait," Taro responded, as he increased his pace to the sound of his own humming, "I've got the gift, time to stick it in the goal, it's time to move your body!"

And with that line, Taro outstretched his right arm and clicked his fingers. A black stream shot out of from inside his right jacket sleeve, with its' tip a razor sharp dagger. The black dagger shot through the air and went through several of the 'mermen', piercing right through them. Taro withdrew his arm and the blade's stream came shooting back, ripping through the mermen again. Those struck feel to the riverbed, dead.

Taro continued to move in such an odd fashion to the sound of his own humming. "If you got no love then you're with man the wrong man, and it's time to move your body!" He pulled at the lapels of the suit jacket and several black blade pointed streams shot in the direction of the water demons, with the same results as before but to a more devastating effects – as more black daggers means more get stabbed and die.

As before, Taro's 'dancing' sustained and he accompanied this with a cry of "if you can't get a girl but your best friend can, it's time to move your body!" Taro thrust his waist and a giant black dagger streamed out from his suit trouser zipper and darted away at their adversaries. "Whoopsie, looks like I'm flying low," Taro said sheepishly; "and that's what you call a big black cock! She knows what I mean," Taro added, pointing in the direction of the pure and untainted angel that is Irina.

"What?! No, I do not," she shrieked in reply.

The water demon numbers finally started to reduce rapidly, with the combined efforts of Taro and those utilising close combat techniques. One of the water demons tried to give Taro the same treatment to Rias and Rossweisse, but his blade streams were able to pop the bubbles without any problems. Despite the decreasing number of water demons making them more manageable, there still looked like no end to their quantity.

"Has anyone else noticed that they all look completely identical? There are literally no discernible qualities between these beings," remarked Kiba.

"Look!" Rias exclaimed from the air. "At the back of the cluster of 'mermen', there's one that looks slightly different to the rest and of whom the rest seem to be emanating from!"

At the tail end of the gathering of water demons, crouched one that was slightly dissimilar to the rest. This 'merman' was slightly leaner than the rest and its shoulders and torso were covered in black plates of armour. This demon was crouched on the floor. As Rias watched on more intently, she was met by quite a shocking sight. Every few minutes, two mermen without armour appeared to the sides of this one, who then got up and charged into battle.

"They're all clones of that one in armour. Kill him and we'll just have those left to deal with," Rias informed her servants.

"I got this," Taro replied, "cover me."

Taro leapt into the air and landed with one foot on one of the mermen and the other foot on another. Next, Taro started to jump from head to head, followed by several streams of blades squirming out from inside his clothes to slay several mermen. "I don't wanna rock," Taro sang, pointing his left hand to the left and his right hand to the right, with black daggers firing out from both at the mermen, "DJ. But you're making me feel so nice. When's it gonna stop," and Taro pulled at the lapels of his jacket and panned his torso across that which was in front of him, firing like the gun of a tank being moved slowly from side to side, "DJ? 'Cause you're keepin' me up all night."

The original water demon came into his line of sight and he propelled himself in the water demon. The demon looked up and was bewildered by what was flying at it. It cried out in surprise, feeling strangely helpless.

Taro cupped his hands together, with the index and middle fingers of both hands stemming out to make the shape of the barrel of a gun. Taro made a firing gesture with his hands in the direction of the main water demon. A single black dagger slipped out from between his elongated fingers and cemented itself in the forehead of the demon, "bang, motherfucker," Taro shouted. The demon fell to the bottom seabed and its body was carried away by the current. Upon the assassination of the asexual water demon, not only did the creation of more 'mermen' cease, but the downfall of rain slowly came to a conclusion, with the sun finally allowed out from behind the clouds.

"Wait, I've just realised I can probably do this," said Taro, directing his arms at the bubble enclosed females in the air. He shaped his hands into that of two pistols and went "bang." A dagger shot out from each sleeve and pierced through the bubbles, popping it. Before the daggers could continue on towards Rias and Rossweisse, Taro gave a strong yank on their tail ends and the streams slithered back into his sleeves.

"Yes, we're free, at last! Let's win this fight," said Rias with a battle cry.

/

After again coming out victorious, the Occult Research Club returned to their accommodation to recuperate and to dry off. They went away for a hot bath. The lodging housed two separate baths closed off from one another – one for each gender, but Taro had other things in mind.

"This is nice," remarked Kiba, relaxing into the hot water, seated alongside Gaspar, with Taro on the opposite facing the two.

"What is the point in telling me I can't bathe with the girls, who are probably naked in there? Surely they know I'll just pop in anyway?" Taro demanded, completely ignoring what Kiba had said.

"Was the 'dancing' required for you to use your power?" queried Kiba.

"No, that's just for showmanship. You guys just need to let me entertain you," Taro responded.

"And what did you mean when you said that to lead us in battle was in your 'bloodline'?" Kiba asked.

Taro looked at Kiba and hesitated before replying, thinking through his options. "I hail from a family who, before they were assassinated, were great military generals of the devil armies. My real name is Taro Tokushumono, but I have had to change my name many times to throw people off my scent. You can tell no one else of my true identity."

"Do the girls know?" Kiba enquired.

"No, but I'm about to go and tell them," replied Taro with a smirk, "for you have provided me with an excuse to go to their bathing area." And in the blink of an eye Taro was gone.

/

"Hello, ladies," said Taro, suddenly appearing in their bath.

"Hi, Taro," replied Akeno, with a friendly wave and smile, making no attempts to cover her modesty.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Koneko, readying her fist to send him packing.

"There's I something I need to tell you and I decided that it couldn't wait," Taro answered. "I feel it is only right that I tell you of my true identity. My name is Taro Tokushumono. I am from the Tokushumono clan of tactical geniuses – hence why I took the leading role today."

"You told me not to tell anyone of your identity just this morning!" Rias squawked at him, annoyance in her voice.

"And you told me I needed to tell people eventually. So I've told my comrades. But, girls, you can't tell anyone else of this. And, Rias, you still can't tell your brother yet, I'm afraid," said Taro in a soothing tone, in an attempt to calm Rias.

"Okay, now go," Koneko instructed him, pointing to the door.

"Nah, I like it here. I think I'll stay – a decent view," Taro responded. He shut his eyes and let his body sink into the water. When he opened them, he found several angry women crowded around him, ready to strike. "On second thoughts-, "but he was not allowed to finish that sentence, as fists came crashing down on him.

/

Taro groaned as he lay in bed. Every time he tried to move he was hit by a wall of pain. Asia had offered to heal him, but the other girls had strongly objected to this – they wanted him to suffer for his indiscretion – and Asia decided to go with the majority and leave him in this state.

"Would you be quiet, your whining is stopping me from sleeping?" Rias told him.

"I think I might be about to die," he moaned.

"I can assure you that you're not going to die," Rias replied unsympathetically.

"I'm given to understand you can heal me if we both get naked."

"That is true."

"So…?"

"Beg."

"Please."

"No."

"Pretty please."

"No."

This heated debate was then interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in," Rias shouted to the door.

Akeno appeared from behind the door and wandered over to the bed, "can I get into bed with you two, it's really cold?" she requested.

"Sure," Rias replied, "that way someone else can put up with him whining like a little bitch."

Taro tried to respond, but Rias poked him in his side and he cried out in pain.

Akeno strolled over, lifted the covers and got into the bed on the other side of Taro, nestling up close to him.

Taro thought back to when he destroyed the accommodation's heating system to make this exact situation come about and thought to himself: ' _I love it when a plan comes together_ ,' and smiled – which in turn caused him an immense amount of pain and he whimpered a little. As Rias and Akeno drew in closer to him, for his warmth, he wrapped his arms around them and placed his hands on one of their breasts. Akeno giggled at this. Soon after, further down the bed the bed covers lifted – all originating from a single point – like a water demon rising from the water.

"My, my," Akeno remarked, covering her mouth to hide her smile.

"Now who's feeling the cold, Rias? From what's poking in my hands, you two seem to be, but if you direct your gaze downwards you'll see that I'm clearly not. I'm rocking an Ed Helms (it is believed that Ed Helms from the US Office and the Hangover is very much blessed downstairs) it's so big down there."

"Yes, Taro, it's very impressive," replied Rias, not really bothering to look.

Akeno reached down and poked it, "wow, it's rock hard."

Taro breathed in and clenched his fist, inadvertently squeezing Akeno's breast in the process, causing him to breath in again in an attempt to control himself. ' _Come on, Taro, control yourself. You don't want to develop a reputation for being 'premature'. You need to stick to your guns and show off your stamina, even if you've never wanked because you believe you're too good looking to justify such activities_.'

/

Later that night, after Taro and his bed friends fell asleep, Taro's phone started to ring. Taro's shot out speedily and carefully, to avoid waking Rias and Akeno up. He gripped his hand and lifted it from the bedside table up to his ear.

"Hello," he said, "you've located it? Fantastic, I'll be there within the hour. See ya," and he ended the call and placed the phone back on the bedside table. He sunk back into the bed and closed his eyes, breathing out. "It's time," he muttered, opening his eyes quickly and propelling himself up. This movement awoke Rias.

As he sat up she muttered: "do whatever you want, just don't wake me up," as she looked up and saw that he was slowly moving out from under the covers, "wait, where are you going?" she called out.

"I've got some business to attend to. I'll be back in a day, maybe two, possibly three. A week at the most. But I'll be definitely return. Probably," Taro replied.

"Probably?" she shrieked – waking Akeno up – with terror in her eyes at the prospect of losing another important servant.

"What's happening?" Akeno murmured, half-asleep.

"Taro's leaving and he's not certain if he'll come back," Rias told her.

"What?!" Akeno cried out.

"Okay, calm down – I'll be back. I promise. If I'm not back in a week, activate the sigil. You don't need to touch it to activate it, touching it is just for pretences," Taro said to her, with a soothing tone.

"You better come back," Rias instructed him.

"I will. Goodbye, I'll see you soon," Taro responded. He kissed Rias on the cheek and gave her tits a playful squeeze, and then did likewise with Akeno. Next, Taro walked over to the door and turned back to look at them one last time, as they settled back into the bed and went back to sleep.

' _I'll miss this. When I return, if I return, the likelihood of any more nights like these is very unlikely. But I must do this, I cannot be selfish. I owe these people too much; I must relieve them of their pain and give them what they truly desire - even if it's at my own expense_.'

"Goodbye, Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima, until next time. I hope," he whispered and disappeared in the blink of an eye.


	5. Chapter 1,5: Never Forget

**The Love Octagon Venn Diagram**

 _A High School DxD fanfic_

 _By me_

 _Rated M_

Chapter 5: Never Forget

 _ **Author's note**_ _: just realised that the stars I've put in previous chapters to symbolise a change in scene haven't been appearing, making for some difficult reading. I'm going to try something different to connote a break, hopefully this will work. Sorry about that._

Upon the culmination of their training trip, the Occult Research Club returned to Taro's house – without Taro. Three days had passed since his departure and they had no clue as to when he may return, having received no form of communication from him. Whilst they didn't harbour any worries about Taro having gone back to the accommodation they'd stayed at – for he was aware of when their trip concluded and knew they'd be going back home afterwards – some of the club members did begin to fear that something had happened to him. Rias told them to maintain faith, staying strong whilst harbouring her own doubts – but she knew she must put on a brave face, for it was her duty as their leader.

The group gathered for their daily meeting at the club's school base. They awaited Rias giving them a briefing before assigning them with tasks and then departing. But this particular meeting was faced with two interruptions. The first of those interruptions came in the form of Azazel. Azazel appeared in the corner of the room and let out a loud cough to alert them to his presence, startling the club members.

"Sorry I haven't been around in a while. Sirzechs, Michael, the other higher ups and I were on a team bonding trip in Magaluf,"he told them, "how did the mission I assigned you before my departure go? Did you capture that rogue devil that's been causing us a bit of trouble for a while? I forgot to mention to you guys that he is a very proficient teleporter and that he is able to bend your will – although these are all things you're probably now aware of. He's a crafty one, that lad."

"We apprehended him, but then we let him join the club," Rias informed him with a wry smile.

"You did what?" Azazel exclaimed "did you look him in the eyes for too long, because if you then this probably wasn't your decision?"

"No, I covered my eyes; he just made a very convincing case."

"I've heard he's a bit of a charmer and a bit of a letch – I know that's your type, does he now share a bed with you?"

"That's none of your business. What matters is that he has since proved to be a very valuable member of this club."

"I'm going to take that as a 'yes' then. Try and start thinking with your head in future, Rias, not your vagina."

Rias did not react well to that comment, sending a ball of demonic energy his way, which he quickly dodged. Sadly, a lamp was not quite as alert and able to dodge the ball, paying the price for its slowness with its life.

The second interruption came in the form of a knock on the door – a far more polite interruption. Rias shouted to the door, giving permission to whoever was on the other side of it to come in. The door slid slowly open, and Taro Tokushumono stepped in from behind it.

"Guess who's back?" he said.

"Taro," they cried with joy, coming over to welcome him in the wake of his return. Various members hugged him and patted him on the back, saying that it was good to see him. Once the greetings finished, Taro instructed them to sit back down, for he had something important to tell them.

"It's great to see you all. I have again brought a gift, but this time I haven't cheaped out. This is one for all of you to share, and I'm positive it's a gift you'll all be delighted with," he told them, before walking back over to the door and opening it, "come in, I've set things up for you to make an entrance."

 _/_

 _Three days earlier…_

Taro walked over to the door and turned back to look at them one last time, as they settled back into the bed and went back to sleep. He looked upon them affectionately and fought the desire to weep over what he was about to give up.

"Goodbye, Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima, until next time. I hope," he whispered and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Taro reappeared on the outskirts of a small village in the underworld. He did coat up tight and pulled the hood up over his head, before proceeding to enter the town. He walked assuredly and with purpose, he didn't want to let his footing betray his nerves. What he was about to undertake, if successful, would rock both his world and all of close to him – and in his case, possibly not for the better. This task required him to be clinical, for there wasn't a large window of opportunity available to him.

Taro eventually came to a bungalow type home with wooden door. He knocked on it and stepped back to wait patiently for it to be opened.

"Taro, you're earlier than I expected. It's great to see you, man," a cumbersome, robust gentleman said on the other side of the now opened door.

"Hi, Roba, it's good to see you too," Taro replied.

"Please, come in, come in. Let us talk," said Roba enthusiastically.

Roba was around six foot four and he was well proportioned to his height too. He had a strong build and large hands (and you know what they say about big hands? Big gloves). His skin was rough and calloused. His head was covered by a crop of receding ginger hair, whilst his chin was coated in a large thick, beard. He was wearing a black t-shirt, which looked strained across his muscular physique, whilst also displaying his large arms. This was a man who had partaken in some strenuous physical labour in his time.

"Have you got it?" Taro asked him, a look of intent in his eyes.

"Yes, I have. Let me just get it," Roba answered, getting up and leaving the room they were sat in.

It was a simple room in a home with only a ground floor. Looking across the room, it seemed to triple up as a dining area, kitchen area and living area. The room was ill lit, relying on candle light, whilst the chairs made available for Roba and Taro to sit were very hard, offering little comfort. The room wasn't in particularly good shape, with various bits and pieces lying around here and there. Neither resided at this bungalow permanently, but it was a meeting place Taro had used on numerous occasions previously, due to it being positioned away from the rest of the world and away from prying eyes who might be searching for him.

Roba eventually returned to the room holding something long and thin, but covered up with a blanket. Roba sat back down in front of Taro and lifted the blanket off of the object. Underneath lay Caliburn, the sword of Arthur Pendragon. In the recent war between the various beings and the Khaos Brigade, which ended in a tempoary ceasefire after the disappearance of Issei and Vali, Arthur Pendragon fell at the hands of Kiba, but his sword was lost in the rubble. Until now.

"It was exactly where you said it would be. I don't know how you do it. Oh, wait, yes I do, it's because you 'know things'," Roba joked.

"Good," Taro replied, as Roba handed him the sword, "this, my friend, possesses the ability to take me to the dimensional gap. Although I do not require it for such things, you do."

"I do?"

"As a contingency plan. I have, since our initial discussions began, developed the ability to teleport into the dimensional gap. But I only have an hour before I will be lost. If I have not yet returned after fifty minutes, I want you to come and get me. If you cannot find me in those last ten minutes, presume me dead and depart."

"What, may I ask, has you thinking that going to the dimensional gap is a good idea?"

"It's not a good idea," Taro replied bluntly, "but it's something I must do. There's something lost there that I must retrieve."

"I'm not sure about this, Taro."

"Roba, I cannot afford for you to be having second thoughts at this crucial stage. Get your head sorted."

"I'm just not sure if it's worth the risk."

"Who saved your marriage, Roba? Who? This isn't a rhetorical question, I want an answer?"

"You did," said Roba, his head dropping solemnly.

"Exactly – and that certainly wasn't worth the risk. I spent so long helping you guys I almost got caught. That's the closest I've ever come. I know I've had to drag you away from your wife and family to come to this remote place, where there won't be watchful eyes - and I apologise for that – but I wouldn't be asking this of you if I didn't believe it was completely necessary. Now, will you help me not?"

"Just answer me one question: is this for a girl?"

"Sort of."

"Then of course I'll help you," Roba replied with a grin.

Taro and Roba had left their meeting place, departing for a quiet spot just outside of the village, on the other side of a small hill that overlooked the village. Taro dropped his coat to the floor and started to do his stretches, making sure he was physically ready for the task at hand. Whilst he knew that the dimensional gap was predominantly based on the mental side of things, he felt he needed something to occupy himself as he psyched himself up for the task he was about to undertake.

"I'm so glad you're doing this for a girl, I was beginning to worry that you might be one of those nancy boys," Roba said with a hearty laugh.

"That's incredibly offensive, you really shouldn't say such things," Taro told him apathetically.

"Come on, mate, it was just a bit of banter," Roba responded.

Taro changed the subject, finally being reminded of why he found Roba tiresome – his backward views and mild ignorance, but sadly such things are common in men who are more brawn than brain, "Are you ready to set the timer? You cannot get distracted, this needs to be the dot."

Roba changed to a more serious tone, "of course, you can count on me."

"Alright, wish me luck," Taro said, and vanished.

 _/_

Taro blinked and found himself in the midst of emptiness. He occupied a space, but he stood on no actual mass. "This is some trippy shit," he remarked, as he stepped slowly across what was in front of him, trying to get his footing in this strange place.

He turned his head from left to right, not entirely sure of what he was looking for. As far as the eye could see there was nothingness. He could see no other solid forms, just wide open space. He bit his lip as the magnitude of what he had chosen to undertake became clear. He had travelled to this place on the off chance he might find something - a something that he had no clue of the exact whereabouts of. He bit his lip as he realised he may have just taken up an impossible task. But he realised he must remain focused and confident. Now was not the time to have doubts. ' _I can't turn back now, I've travelled so far, to change this lonely life_.'

Taro continued to wander aimlessly, still not sure what he was exactly looking for to direct him to where he desired. Everywhere he turned looked the same: blank. He decided to try a new approach and called out "hello, is anyone there?" but he was met with no reply. He stopped in his tracks and groaned. This was not going to plan at all.

Out of nowhere, he heard a low rumble that resembled a growl. He turned slowly around to see a large, blood red creature. This creature had wings like a pterodactyl, the head of a lizard and the strong scaly body of a crocodile. It was a dragon. It was Great Red.

The dragon's gaze was fixed upon him. Its' large golden orbs, bigger than Taro himself, bore down upon him, looking at the young devil inquisitively and yet nonchalantly.

"Oh, shit, please don't eat me," Taro whispered, as fear crept into his heart. His hands became clammy, his heart started to beat very, very quickly, and his throat became dry. He gulped and stepped slowly back, the dragon roared at this movement and Taro froze in his steps. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he whimpered, tears begin to develop in his eyes.

Great Red's eyes flickered and its' gaze moved on elsewhere. It lifted itself off from Taro's level and flew away. A portal opened up and it started to fly through it. Taro wasn't swept with the overwhelming urge to follow it, believing that this was his best hope. Taro let out a large sigh of relief and charged after it, jumping through the portal right as it started to close. Taro almost lost a foot for his troubles.

As Taro found himself in a new location, he discovered that he was falling, at great pace. "Shit, fuck; shit, fuck; shit, fuck," he yelped. The ground started to come up thick and fast, Taro covered his head as he met the ground with a 'thud'. He groaned and spat out sand and salt water. He had landed on a beach of some kind, finding that he was now covered in sand and very damp after falling into the edge of a sea of some kind. ' _This is going to ruin my favourite suit, this is disastrous. For fuck's sake, this trip better be worth it_.' He slowly lifted his head from the ground and looked up across the shoreline and was met with a welcomed sight. There it was: what he'd been looking for. He'd found it. He'd found _him_.

 _/_

Issei Hyoudou sat cross legged on the beach, with his arms leaning on his legs, cupping on his head. A vacant look was in his eyes, as he looked across the sea disinterestedly. The memory of being sat here with Rias filled his mind. It all seemed so long ago now. Oh, how much he wished he could return to that moment but, alas, hope seemed like something he was no longer capable of having.

Three months had passed since he and Vali had been transported to the Dimensional Gap. He hadn't seen Vali since. The two had continued their fight to begin with, Vali generally having the upper hand. When Great Red appeared, Issei was too weak from the fight to follow him, but Vali just about managed to muster up enough strength. The second time Issei saw Great Red he trailed the dragon, but this time Vali was nowhere to be seen. Issei had no idea what had happened to him, nor did he truly care for that matter. Issei followed Great Red in the hope he'd lead him to salvation again, like that time he was here with Rias, but Issei was sorely mistaken. Again he was taken to the beach and, as much as he waited to be transported home, it never came. Every time he tried to follow Great Red again he'd still end up at this beach so he decided that this was clearly where he was meant to be and gave up tracking the dragon.

Tears stained Issei's cheeks. Sitting here all day and all night – although neither of these terms meant anything here or to him at present – he passed his days in boredom. He wasn't sure how, but he was still alive after all this time, something was replenishing his body, even if it wasn't replenishing his spirit.

This 'day' was like any other. He masturbated a few times to pass the time, then wept, followed by masturbating again – but this time using his tears as lubricant – and next proceeded to look across the sea longingly, praying that rescue would somehow come this way. But it never did. Long suffering Odisseius continued his days plighted by the memory of a home and family he was unable to return to – but no immortal nymph goddess accompanied this lost traveller. No Calypso to help occupy his days by listening to her pleas for him to be her husband and to go to bed with her, often agreeing to the latter. Issei was all alone.

He tried to remember the faces of his friends, struggling to make clear pictures of their faces. ' _No, I must never forget where I came here from. I must never pretend it's all real. Someday soon this will all be someone else's dream_.'

Issei hadn't seen an pair of breasts in three months – on screen or in reality, all he had at present was his imagination. All he had was the memory of Rias' breasts, Akeno's breasts, Xenovia's breasts, Asia's breasts, even little Koneko's breasts. All he had to sustain him was the mental pictures in his 'spank bank', but – like their faces – these memories were becoming less and less vivid. The strain of this loss was killing him emotionally. Some days he craved the sweet release of death, others he found a new strength and fight to keep on living. Today, he found himself split between the two, getting splinters up his arse whilst sat on the fence.

Issei heard a flash in the air and looked up, seeing Great Red flying from portal to portal again – a regular sight for Issei, one that he had come to accept. No longer did he see Great Red as his escape route, now seeing Great Red was just an occasional part of his day. As he watched Great Red go from one portal to another he noticed something come flying through the air behind Great Red – but this thing was falling, rather than moving in a controlled way.

' _The deuce_?' Issei thought to himself, a puzzled look across his face.

The thing landed a couple hundred metres away from Issei. It appeared to be a person, a man no less – still Issei's search for a vision of real breasts continued. This thought alone was enough to cause Issei to well up once more. Issei's line of sight returned to this lost stranger. The lost stranger slowly got up and turned to him. As the two locked eyes, a small smile of triumph played across the stranger's face.

"Hi," Issei said, lifting his hand to make a waving sign, struggling to remember how to talk and interact with other people.

"Issei Hyoudou, I have come here to eliminate you entirely – for you are a rival for the affections of Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima," the stranger told him, giving Issei a stern look.

"What?!" Issei shrieked.

"No, I'm just kidding with you," the stranger said, his face changing to a friendly smile, "I've come here to bring you home, buddy."

 _/_

Upon reflection, trying to lighten the mood and awkwardness by making a joke about coming here to kill Issei perhaps wasn't the best of ideas on Taro's part. He was now struggling to convince Issei of his noble intentions.

"You've got a pretty sick sense of humour, you know that?" Issei told him.

"Normally my quips are purely sex-related, but I was trying to branch out and widen my horizons. I regret that now," Taro responded, sliding over to perch himself next to Issei, looking out across the sea.

"That's fair enough then. I myself like a sex joke here and there, so we might just get along after all."

"I do hope so, particularly as I have recently become an associate of the Occult Research Club."

"Really? That's so cool. I bet they're not too keen on your humour, at least from my own experience!"

Taro chuckled, "indeed. I and it do divide opinion amongst my peers."

"You know what? I think we're going to end up being good friends."

Taro hesitated before replying. "Yeah," he said slowly with his words lacking conviction, deciding it was perhaps not the best moment to inform Issei of his current sleeping arrangements – he didn't want to a put a spanner in the works of this friendship whilst it's still fresh. Now was not the time for honesty, he needed to complete his mission first.

After a moment of silence, Issei broke through this period of awkwardness by asking Taro, "so what's your name?"

"Taro," said Taro.

"So, um, can we go home now?" Issei enquired sheepishly.

Taro gripped his chest –his heart still hadn't recovered and returned to its normal pace after he came to face with a dragon. Teleporting now may not be the best of moves for his health, but he was very much wary of time and how he was running out of it. "Fine," he replied, pulling himself up from the floor.

Issei followed suit, the smile etched across his face demonstrating the struggle he was under to contain his excitement. He was finally returning home – this long awaited moment had finally come.

"Give me your hand," Taro instructed, with Issei doing so. Taro breathed in, and when he breathed out he was back in the Underworld where he'd left Roba - who was nowhere to be found. "Roba, I'm back. Roba?"

Taro looked around, but no one was there. "Roba?" he called out again, "has he strolled away to go to the toilet or something?" he murmured to himself.

"Who's Roba?"

"A casual acquaintance – he was aiding me in my quest to find you. He has Caliburn in case I had any difficulty getting back, with or without you."

"The sword's not here anymore, maybe he went in after you?"

"If he has, he's gone in about ten minutes too early," said Taro, "although I'm not entirely certain if he can tell the time." Taro mulled things over, "okay, I'll be back in five minutes," and he vanished.

Five minutes later Taro returned with the lack of success in his second trip evident in the disappointment plastered across his facial features. The stabbing pain in his heart continued, but he bit his lip and forced himself to put on a brave face – now was not the time for him to worry about a bit of residual heart burn and indigestion.

"No luck?" asked Issei.

"Is he here with me on my return?" said Taro sharply.

"No."

"Then don't ask stupid questions."

"Alright, don't get snappy with me."

"My apologies, I was misdirecting my anger."

"That's quite alright," Issei replied, "could he have bailed on you and just gone home?"

"No, he wouldn't dare after what I did for his marriage. He knows I'd come for him and that if I told his wife about this she'd kick him out of their house. No way would he have the balls to try and pull a fast one on me."

"So what do we do?"

"Firstly, I'm going to check to see if he's gone back to our meeting place," and Taro disappeared and reappeared again, "no, not there."

"We could fly over the town to see if we can spot him?" suggested Issei

"Good idea," replied Taro.

But, alas, again their efforts were in vain. Roba was still nowhere to be found.

"We're going to have to go and look for him, aren't we?"

"Yep, 'fraid so."

"So I'm going to have to wait even longer to see boobs again? For fuck's sake, it's been three months," said Issei, no longer able to fight his urge to weep.

"Issei, if we see any titty bars, I will pay for you to see boobs. I understand the pain you must be going through. No man should have to go through that," replied Taro, putting a reassuring hand on Issei's shoulder.

"Thanks, mate, you're a real friend," Issei responded through his tears.

"Yeah," Taro again said unconvincingly, the thought of the information he was holding back again from his new 'friend' playing across his mind. ' _Is this guilt? This is new, I'm normally far more narcissistic._ '

"This'll be a good bonding exercise," said Issei, "it'll help us become better friends."

There it was again, the pang of guilt that Taro felt every time Issei mentioned their new friendship. Was this what was causing the stabbing pain in his heart, or was that, perhaps, something more sinister and health related? Or maybe he'd just eaten something that was now causing him some discomfort?

"Maybe whoever took Roba left a note?" Issei suggested.

"No, that would be way too convenient and cliché," replied Taro.

"Found it," called Issei gleefully, holding up a note he'd found on the floor.

"Or maybe it wouldn't be too convenient or cliché," Taro muttered.

"'Hey, Taro Tokushumono. Return to where we killed your parents if you want the big boy back. Lots of love, the Khaos Brigade xoxo'," read Issei.

"Ah, for fuck's sake. This has become a situation. I do not care for situations. It's why I don't watch Jersey Shore. And also because it's a load of crap."

"Look at the positives: the Khaos Brigade have those female soldiers who cover all their bodies bar their cleavage. Guess who's going to use dress break to see some titties?"

"There's no guarantee that section of the Khaos Brigade will be there, Issei."

"Way to burst my bubble, Taro, just as I was getting excited about this."

"Sorry, mate."

After another awkward pause, Issei spoke up, "should we call in some backup for this undertaking?"

"No, we've got this. And I don't want to bring more people in on this. I have secrets I need to keep that this would reveal."

"Okay, but if I die before I see boobs because of your pride, I am so going to come back and haunt you."

"Oi, I just saved you from the Dimensional Gap. Don't get rude with me."

Issei considered giving a scathing reply, but thought better of it and decided that making peace so they could return their attention to the task at hand. "Alright, alright, I think we're losing focus here, we've got a job to do and standing here bickering isn't helping us to complete it – it's doing the opposite, in fact."

"Good point, let's get going. We've got places to be, people to see," said Taro, putting his hand on Issei's shoulder and then the two vanished into thin air.


	6. Chapter 1,6: Get Ready For It

**The Love Octagon Venn Diagram**

 _A High School DxD fanfic_

 _By me_

 _Rated M_

Chapter 6: Get Ready For It

Taro and Issei reappeared outside the house Taro had fled from many years before. Taro had never revisited this place and, before the kidnapping of Roba, had no plans to ever return to this home of traumatic memories. Issei started to walk towards the house, with confidence and purpose in his step, but Taro remained frozen in his place – staring deeply at this decrepit, old nightmare.

Since his untimely departure, the building had fallen to a bout of rotting wood, with there being many holes and gaps in the house – although some of those holes may originate from plucky teenagers looking for goods to steal and sell for drug money.

"Are you coming?" Issei called to Taro.

"Yes, just give me a moment to take this all in," replied Taro, the pain in his chest intensifying. He breathed in and breathed out. He finally found the strength to move and he forced his feet to shift from where they stood. He caught up with Issei and the two continued into the house. As they came to the doorstep they were posed with an unexpected problem of how to enter.

"Should we knock or should we attempt to sneak in?" queried Issei.

"They're expecting us, what do we gain from trying to sneak in? Let's just knock," Taro responded.

"Alright," said Issei, and he did so. He gave the old, rotting wooden door a gentle knock. The door creaked open. "This doesn't feel right; it's like something out of a horror film."

Taro ignored Issei and stepped into the house. He looked around the living room they entered into. It was exactly as he'd left it. There were the plants he'd watered on the morning of his departure in the corner, now just pots with soil in them, and the plants long since dead. In the middle of the room was the sofa, facing away from the door – a poor move on reflection, after his father had been shot in the dead, completely blindsided. The sofa was now very tatty, with its insides now on the show in many corners and various holes appearing in the cushions – it looked as if the rats had got to it. The room also included various other chairs, chest of drawers, the desk his was working at when she was forced to flee on the intrusion of her home. Looking at the desk stirred the memory of his mother shouting to him to "get out, get out, get out, while you can," as she was beaten to death. And that he did, he ran and ran, even when he felt he could no longer, the adrenaline and desire to live kept him going until he was certain he was safe. It wasn't until he recognised how far away he'd ran that he came to the realisation that he'd teleported on several occasions whilst running – marking the first time he'd ever teleported. Taro's legs felt tired at the memory of the running he did that evening – it still remained the most exercise he'd ever done in his life.

At present, the room was deadly silent.

"Are they here yet?" questioned Issei, "maybe we beat them here as they didn't cover the ground as quickly as you can?"

"No, they're definitely here. They might just be coating their presence in an attempt to catch us off guard."

"How can you tell?"

"I know things."

"No, that's not an acceptable response. That tells me nothing. I want a proper answer."

"I know things," Taro repeated.

Issei was about to voice his frustration once more at this answer when a creak echoed throughout the house, seemingly emanating from upstairs. Taro took his finger to his lip and pointed upwards. Issei gave him a look of disdain at the suggestion he too wasn't aware of where the sound had originated from. Taro began to make hand signals, pointing at Taro and then pointing to the stairs, before pointing to himself and forming a half circle with his arm.

"What? What are you trying to say?" whispered Issei, confusion in his facial features.

Taro mouthed a sigh of frustration and tiptoed over to Issei, repeating the hand gestures whilst providing them with explanations in a hushed voice: "you go up the stairs, draw their attention that way, whilst I'll teleport up behind them and provide a sneak attack."

"So I'm bait?"

"You're a dragon, you're meant to be powerful as fuck."

"Only when I'm swept over by an emotion, and I'm woefully out of practice after three months of just looking across a beach, masturbating and crying."

"Then this'll be a good exercise for you to get back into the routine then," replied Taro, "which emotions stir you the most to action?"

"Lust, love and loss – the latter two can generate an uncontrollable rage within me."

"I see. Okay, I think this will do the trick," Taro began, "From telling you this, the enemy inside me is holding me back, but we know there's something in the silence. Get ready for it: since joining the Occult Research Club I have rarely spent the night alone. I have often been joined by Rias and more recently Akeno," he said apathetically.

"What?!" Issei shrieked.

Taro lifted his finger to his mouth to gesture to Issei to be quiet, "we'll talk later, buddy," said Taro, giving Issei a friendly smile.

"No, don't go! We need to talk about this now. You've stolen two of my girls, you dick!" Issei called in a hushed shout, but it was no use for Taro had already gone.

 _ **/**_

Despite finally owning up to his guilt, the pain in Taro's chest persisted. He was beginning to fear that this may be something more than just a vicious case of heart burn – but now was not the time to debate such matters, he had a casual acquaintance to save.

Taro found himself looking on at around twenty or so men, covered from head to toe in padded clothing, wearing helmets that covered their faces. And they were now looking back at him. He raised his hand to wave at them, to break the ice. ' _Issei won't be happy about this either. They're all men. No boobs here._ '

Taro noticed that the twenty or so men were circling around Roba, whose was lying on the floor, with his arms and legs tied together. Roba was covered in bruises and bloody wounds – knowing Roba, Taro imagined that Roba put up quite the fight. Roba was still conscious and looked up to see his comrade, his face lit up, "alright, mate?"

"Yeah ,I'm alright. You?" Taro responded.

"I've seen better days, I'm not going to lie," said Roba, "thanks for coming though, means a lot."

"If I didn't, your wife would kill me. My only option really," laughed Taro.

"True that," Roba replied with a hearty chuckle.

One of the Khaos Brigade soldiers coughed to remind the two of their presence.

"I'll get to you, I'm having a chat with a mate here. Wait your turn," Taro told them.

A loud shout echoed through the room, accompanied by heavy footsteps coming up the stairs at quite a speed. "Taro, I'm not done talking to you. What do you think you're doing running off, when you've just told me something like that?" a voice from the stairs bellowed.

Issei charged up the stairs and leapt across the room, completely ignoring the soldiers in his way. Issei threw his dragon armour encrusted left fist into Taro's right facial cheek, sending Taro a few paces backwards – gripping his face.

 _*BOOST*_

"Ow, what the hell, man? Don't fucking hit me in the money maker," Taro cried out.

"That one was for stealing Rias and," Issei cried, and then proceeded to throw his right fist into Taro's left cheek, "that one was for stealing Akeno. Any other girls you've stolen and who I need to punch you for?"

"You just hit me in the lady killer again, for fuck's sake," Taro cupped his mouth, moving his hand to spit out some blood and a tooth. "No," he grumbled, "I haven't been around long enough to make a move on any of the other girls yet. I came to save you instead."

"Yet?!" Issei cried, kneeing Taro in his groin, "and that's a low blow, man, bringing up how you saved my life when I'm dishing out punishment for stealing my women."

 _*BOOST*_

After connection with Issei's knee, Taro sunk to the floor, holding his member and fighting the urge to cry, as a rush of pain travelled through his body, his heart tightening at the addition of further injury. "Issei," Taro began, spitting further blood out from his mouth, "this is not how I wanted things to go. I was going to tell you on the trip home, when we could have a reasoned discussion like adults, but you needed a source for your rage to reach full power. Although I didn't expect you to use it on me until after we'd dealt with these guys. I'm sorry I 'stole' Rias and Akeno, I sometimes forget how alluring my charm can be, but if you hit me one more time I will wreck you."

"Thank you for your apology. So you'll stop courting my women then?"

Taro laughed, "no way."

"That's it!" and Issei swung his foot down on Taro's stomach. Taro coughed in pain in response, further blood spilling out.

 _*BOOST*_

Taro lifted himself up slightly, so that he was now on his hands and knees, and chuckled a bit. He rose up further until he was stood, albeit struggling to remain still, shaking ferociously. He lifted his head and looked up at Issei. He gave Issei a cheeky smirk before gathering himself enough to speak, "Issei, check yo' self," he began, "before you wreck yo' self, 'cause black daggers up your ass are bad for yo' health."

Two black streams slipped out from Taro's sleeves and went flying in Issei's direction. Issei, startled by this action, was unaware to prepare himself in time and found himself being sent flying into the wall, pinned against it by the cloth on the sleeve of his shirt by the two black daggers. Issei groaned over the pain that was shooting across his back from the force of hitting the wall.

 _*BOOST*_

"Okay, I have boosted enough. Taro, I'd review who will be getting wrecked if I was you," Isse chuckled, as he hauled himself off from the wall, coming unstuck. As the daggers fell from the wall he grabbed the streams attached to the daggers and that came from Taro's sleeves, then proceeding to yank them back. Taro came racing towards Issei along with the streams. As Taro's hurtling body reached Issei, Issei met it with a butt to the head. Taro's head rolled back and his nose cracked, he grunted in response. As he began to drop Issei caught him his jacket lapels and stared intensely into Taro's face. Taro spat blood in Issei's face and smiled. Issei was about to open his mouth to reply to this despicable action, but found himself interrupted by another cough from the soldiers, who were unsure how to react to their opponents fighting amongst each other, instead of with them.

"WE'LL GET TO YOU, FUCK OFF!" Issei and Taro shouted at the soldiers, whilst also unleashing an 'explosion' of energy and a stream of daggers the way of the soldiers respectively. The soldiers found themselves reduced to half their numbers after the attack.

"This is the world's worst rescue attempt ever," Roba called to his 'saviours'.

Taro turned to Issei, "could you let me just free him from being tied up, he could probably take most of the soldiers left that way?"

Issei nodded. His issue was with Taro, there was no reason to let Roba suffer because of it.

Taro shot out two streams to cut through the ropes tying Roba's arms and legs. With his body now free and able to move, Roba slowly manoeuvred himself back to a standing position, and followed this by adjusting himself so that he was facing. He cracked his knuckles and smirked at the soldiers, "it's clobberin' time."

"Try and be original with your catchphrase, Roba," Taro called to him.

"Roba smash," replied Roba, as he let his massive fists thump down on the heads of two soldiers.

"See what I said before," Taro said.

Taro then redirected his attention to the gentleman who had him by the lapel of his jacket. Through the blood that dripped down his face he found the strength to give Issei a wry smirk. "Beating the man who saved your life to a pulp isn't going to help you win any hearts back."

"Stop trying to talk to your way out of this, just because you know I've got you beat," Issei replied.

"You're a dragon, whilst I'm just equipped with dashing good looks, an irresistible charm, and a suave but temperamental suit that shoots out daggers when it's pissed. And you're only winning because you blindsided me. If I had seen you coming my way, you'd be in the ground by now."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"I will, my ego is very badly bruised," said Taro, "look, Issei, you can either make the decision on your own to stop hitting me, or I'll have to make it for you."

"I don't follow."

"I'm literally right at your eye level. This is perfect range for me."

"Perfect range for what? You're not going to try and kiss me are you? Whilst I'd be flattered, you're not really my type, you don't have tits."

"No, I'm not going to try and kiss you. I too am an enthusiast of those with breasts. And I've just realised you've never seen me in action to see what abilities I possess. You know what? I want you to make the conscious choice to stop hitting me because we're friends."

"We're not friends."

"We were."

"For about ten minutes."

"It still felt just as a real as any friendship to me, didn't it to you?"

Issei sighed, looked away from Taro and lessened his grip on the jacket's lapels, "Yeah, it did."

"And it's not impossible that we could return to that. Just imagine: Issei and Taro out on the pull. Females: look out," Taro said softly.

"That would be nice," replied Issei, turning back to face Taro and smiling. Issei finally released Taro from his grip. Taro, unable to stand on his own two feet, slipped to the floor. Just as he was about to meet the surface Issei caught him by the underside of his shoulder and hauled him back up, pulling Taro's arm around his shoulder, to aid Taro in standing.

"Thanks, mate," Taro wheezed, "at the end of the day, I didn't know you back then, you were just some guy, and they were pretty, vulnerable and, in my eyes, available girls. How was I to resist them?"

"They weren't available though," Issei reminded him.

"It takes two to tango though. Am I really to blame? Two pretty girls basically threw themselves at me, was I to say 'no'? I mean, I did expressly tell them how attracted to them I was and that I was game for both, but they both kissed me first. Albeit after I saved one's life and quoted a love song that the other hadn't heard of so mistakenly thought I was a man who was blessed with not just a turn of phrase regarding sexual matters, but also of love. But, really, I did nothing to woo them."

"I get you, if I met two beautiful, busty girls who seemed keen on me I wouldn't hesitate either, and I wouldn't want to break it off under any circumstances either too. And, if they were to start sharing a bed with someone else, I'm glad it was with you, as you seem like a great guy."

"You're not too bad yourself, Issei."

Tears flooded their eyes, unable to supress the affection they were both feeling for one another, they wrapped their arms around each other in a deep hug.

"If you guys are done with your little moment, I could really use some help here!" shouted Roba, with several soldiers on top of him, attempting to restrain him.

"Issei, go help him. I'm just going to sit down for a little while and I'll be with you shortly," said Taro weakly.

"Okay," Issei replied cautiously, laying Taro down gently on the floor, with his back resting against the wall.

Taro laid his head back and breathed in deeply. He grimaced at the pain in his chest. The bruises and cuts on his face and elsewhere on his body bothered him little, but this inner pain was greatly affecting him. He felt his heart beating ferociously inside him. He groaned and coughed up some more blood. ' _This has been a disastrous trip. My suit has been absolutely ruined. It's been ripped from crawling in the sand, and now it's got blood stains on it._ ' Taro lowered his back down and looked on at the battle that was commencing before him.

He drifted in and out of consciousness, only seeing fragments of what was taking place before him. His vision became blurred, but he could just about make out who everyone was. Issei charged in and threw the soldiers off of Roba's back. The two then proceeded to defeat the remaining soldiers, Roba using his amplified strength, Issei continuing to boost and unleash more bursts of power upon his opponents.

Roba told Issei that they had taken the sword, Caliburn, somewhere and that they needed to retrieve it before they could depart. Issei grumbled over this, but accepted it was a necessity – they didn't want to accidentally strengthen a foe. Roba walked over to Taro and bent down to ask him: "are you able to teleport the sword back here?"

Taro groaned at this request, but agreed to it nonetheless. He stretched his arm out and opened up his hand, concentrating intently to focus what little strength he had left on this task. The sword started to materialise before him, along with a person wielding it. It was the sister of its previous owner: Le Fay Pendragon. She looked at them rather taken back by the sudden change in scenery.

"Um, hi," she said sheepishly, she turned around to see the soldiers on the floor, "they were supposed to deal with you. This is unexpected." She continued to look around, "oh, Issei, you're back! Vali will be so pleased to hear that."

"Vali's back?" Issei replied.

"Yeah, he forced his way out."

"He could've come back for me."

"He wanted you to prove your worth and save yourself – it looks like you have."

"No, I got rescued by that guy," said Issei, pointing at Taro.

"Hi," Taro wheezed.

"Well, that's very disappointing then. I get the sense you're not going to let me leave without the sword. You guys realise that none of you are worthy of wielding it and so it wouldn't have worked as a way of travelling between dimensions anyway, right?" said Le Fay.

"I've wielded Thor's hammer before, so I imagine the same skills would apply here," Issei replied.

"Oh, right. You might be able to then. But it wouldn't have worked for them at least," answered Le Fay, pointing at Roba and Taro.

An awkward moment of silence passed, with neither side entirely sure what to do. Le Fay moved first, quickly getting up and letting her sword swing down on Issei. The dragon armour protruded out from Issei's left arm, coating the rest of body. Issei lifted his hands up and caught the blade, taking the full force of it like it was nothing. Issei stared blankly at Le Fay, "got anything else?"

"Hey, Issei, you realise she's a woman right?" Taro said.

"Yeah," Issei responded.

"So she has tits."

Issei's eyes lit up and a smiled forced its way across his face. This was the moment he'd been waiting for. "DRESS BREAK," and he removed one of his hands from holding the blade, letting the other hand take the full burden of the sword, and tapped Le Fay on the shoulder.

"Wait, what?" said Le Fay, flabbergasted, suddenly losing her modesty as her clothes fell from her. Before she had realised what had happened, Issei had taken many a mental picture, with drool beginning to form on the corners of his mouth. Le Fay wrapped her arms around her body to cover up, releasing her grip on the sword in the process, allowing Issei full claim of it.

"This trip just became completely worth it," Issei remarked.

"Mate, she looks like she should be in middle school. What you've done is a bit of a nonce thing to do," Roba said hesitantly, with disgust shining through in his voice.

"Boobs are boobs," replied Issei, as he lifted his left dragon armour clad arm up to face the embarrassed Le Fay, "explosion," and a roar of power stormed out from his hand, sending Le Fay flying.

"Is she dead?" asked Roba.

"No, she'll recover," Issei responded, "it'll take her a couple of days though. That was more of a warning shot. We used to be friends, so I don't really want to hurt her too much. But needs must."

Roba turned to the beaten up Taro, "let's take you back to my wife to get you cleaned up, you took quite a beating out there today."

"By my own teammate," Taro grumbled.

"Don't be that way," said Issei.

"Fine," Taro replied, but he was still not completely satisfied.

 _ **/**_

After spending a day recuperating to allow him the strength to teleport back to the mortal world, Taro and Issei finally made the trip back home. Whilst the cuts and bruises now only stung when touched, the chest pains still showed no signs of letting up – Taro began to feel fear sinking in over it, but still he chose to suffer in silence.

Taro and Issei appeared outside the club's meeting place, arriving now with the knowledge that all the club members would currently be residing there. The two stopped outside the door in a dark, poorly lit corridor.

"Thanks for compromising your own masculinity and wearing make up to cover up your wounds to stop me looking like a dick for beating up the guy who just saved my life," Issei said to Taro.

"I have not compromised on my own masculinity by doing this. I'm so manly I can pull this off. I have a beard. You don't get manlier than that," Taro retorted defiantly.

"I'm not so sure, you're still wearing make up like a girl," Issei replied.

"Call me a girl again and I'll go and wash this makeup off."

"Whoa, be cool, be cool."

Taro glared at Issei for a few seconds and then blinked, "let me go in first, so that I can build up to your re-entry."

"Alright," Issei responded.

Taro gave Issei and thumbs up and smiled up, "it's truly over now, mate, you're finally back home," and Taro then knocked on the door. After hearing Rias shout to come in, Taro slipped in, giving Issei one final smirk.

"Guess who's back?" Issei heard Taro say, as the door closed behind Taro.

Whilst he was a little bit angry at Rias over her recent misdemeanours, hearing her voice for the first time in three months felt so good. Hearing it again triggered all his previous memories of it returning, finally able to attribute hear her actual voice and not an abridged voice when he thought back to their past memories together.

"Come in, I've set things up for you to make an entrance," Issei heard Taro call. It was here. It was his big moment. Issei breathed in deeply and let the breath out. ' _Let's do this_.' He slowly opened the door, light flooding out from inside the room, almost blinding Issei, but he stayed strong and persevered. He let his head (no, not that head - the normal head) poke out from behind the door, before pulling the rest of his body in with him. Familiar faces looked back at him in shock.

"Hi, guys," said Issei.

 _ **/**_

"Hi, guys," said Issei, as he stepped into the room.

Everyone's gaze was fixed upon him, no one quite able to believe what they were witnessing. Issei waved at them, still awaiting a reply to his initial greeting. ' _Bit rude,_ ' he thought to himself. This initial inability of his comrades to quite comprehend what was before them ended when Asia ran to Issei. Asia called his name gleefully, tears flooding into her eyes, as she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. The others started to follow suit, with Xenovia, Irina, Gaspar and Koneko coming over to join Asia in greeting Rias.

"Issei," said Rias, finally able to speak, tears beginning to fill her own eyes, "it's so good to see you."

"It's alright to see you, although I've heard some distressing news from my main man, Taro, about you," replied Issei, "You too, Akeno. I am not particularly happy about what I've heard."

"What have you heard?" Rias asked, uneasiness seeping in.

"That you two have been getting very cosy with Taro over there," Issei answered, interrupting Rias before she could respond to tell her: "it's fine, I understand. He's got something about him, I'd fall for him too if I was a girl. He's a great guy."

"Thanks, mate," Taro chirruped in.

"No problem, buddy," said Issei, "I've already beaten Taro up for it, so we're good now. I think I've got all the rage out of me. It's just good to see you all and it's great to see real women of a socially acceptable age."

"You only beat me up because you blindsided me and because I tried to use reason, not my fists," retorted Taro, unwilling to look weak in front of his female fancies.

"Come on, Taro, you said it yourself: I'm a dragon, whilst you're just a guy with dashing good looks, irresistible charm, and a suave but temperamental suit."

Taro bit his lip, not sure how to respond to such a convincing argument. After all, it was his own. "I think we should just leave this, as neither of us is going to back down."

"Yeah, fair point."

At the culmination of this minor dispute, Issei turned to his friends and exchanged pleasantries, as the rest of the group began to swarm around him, asking about how he was, what happened, what he'd been up to, and how he got rescued. Taro held off in the background, watching on at a task successfully completed, with the desired end result.

Rias descended from her desk to join the rest of her group in welcoming their lost friend. As she strolled over, she paused next to Taro and turned to him, "thank you. This means a lot to everybody. I can't believe you've managed to bring him home," said Rias, the emotion of the occasion becoming overwhelming with tears starting to stream down her face.

"We would've been back sooner, but I needed time to recover after he beat the shit out of me. He's a tough cookie, he'll prove invaluable in future battles – he's a real heavy hitter," Taro replied.

"How did you get him back?" Rias asked.

"When I bailed on training few days ago, I went off to try and teleport to the dimensional gap, eventually finding myself just about able."

"I feel bad for punishing you now," she said with a smile.

"No, I disobeyed your orders, you needed to discipline me or you would've looked weak in front of your other servants," Taro replied. "There's something you should know. We were also delayed by having to fight the Khaos Brigade, who seemed to have followed me, or my accomplice in saving Issei, to where I departed this dimension. Either way, we may have a very grave problem developing. Apparently a 'Vali' is also back too, if that means anything to you?"

"It does, thank you for the information," she said with a serious tone, before softening up to say "thank you" again. As she walked past she patted Taro on the arm affectionately and gave him once last smile before joining her club members in greeting Issei.

Taro looked on with a smile, as Issei found himself being interrogated by those around him. Taro considered joining Issei and the others, but instead began to feel light-headed and the pain in his chest intensified. Taro gripped his chest and gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the throbbing ache inside of him, but he found himself unable to. In a blur of light, he found himself falling to his knees and then lying on his stomach, his face smacking against the ground.

"Taro," he heard Rias cry, as her and the others came running over to him.

"No, not the money maker! We can't have him falling on his beautiful face," Issei shouted.

Taro's vision started to fade and the noise around him became distant. The final words he heard came from Issei, "this is a bit of a dick move, to be honest. First he steals my girls, now he's stealing the attention when it's meant to be my big moment. I'm genuinely worried about him, but he is beginning to become a bit of a thorn in my side." Taro found the strength to smile against the pain, appreciating the humour and lack of sentiment and concern his friend was showing for him.

' _Sorry, mate,_ ' Taro thought to himself, ' _I'll try and make it up to when I next can_ ,' and then it all went dark.


	7. Chapter 1,7: Love Love

**The Love Octagon Venn Diagram**

 _A High School DxD fanfic_

 _By me_

 _Rated M_

Chapter 7: Love Love

Taro could hear voices around him. As his mind started to come alive, the voices and who they belonged to became clearer. They were the voices of Rias and Issei. He could feel their presence a few feet away, yet he could not reach out to touch them, nor could he see them. He was fairly certain that they were both sat at the end of whatever he was laying on – probably a bed. Their words began to gain meaning and he started to comprehend what they were talking about.

"I'm sorry you had to find about Taro and I this way. It was never my intention to hurt you. I'm still not entirely certain how it happened," said the voice Taro believed was Rias'.

"I'm torn between delight at finally seeing you again, and anger at the situation I've returned to," replied the voice that he supposed was that of Issei's.

"The way you found out was far what I wanted, I hope you realise that."

"It was a dick move from Taro. I'm not really sure why we're still friends, or friends at all."

"I'm not particularly sure what I found attractive and desirable in him. He's got nothing on you, Issei."

"I'm the red dragon emperor for fuck's sake – of course he has nothing on me!"

"Oh, Issei," said Rias.

"Oh, Rias," said Issei.

Taro tried to clench his fist, but he remained paralysed, whilst also trying to work out what was happening at the foot of his bed, he heard the sound of lips locking, clothes ripping and things slipping into other things - rage filled up inside him. He bit his lip and forced himself out of this sleep paralysis. He opened his eyes and threw his upper body out from the covers. "No, I'm the Mr. Steal Yo' Girl around here!" he cried, pointing his finger at the bottom of the bed, but no one was there.

The room was dark and silent. As Taro's eyes adjusted to the darkness, he scanned across the room, recognising that this was not his bedroom, nor was it any room in his house. He continued to cast his eyes over what was before him and noticed that he was not alone. Rias and Akeno were to his sides, sleeping on top of the cover, fully-clothed. In the corner of the room slept Issei on a wooden chair.

' _It must've been a dream. Some might say this gives some insight into my subconscious thoughts. I deny such allegations_. _It's my mind to be hellish, I still get jealous_ ,' he thought to himself, before lying back down and returning to the peace of slumber.

 _ **/**_

Everything around Taro moved very slowly, with the room dark, with the only light coming from candles around the room. There seemed to be a wall of silence around him, with this wall only being broken by the laughter of the compatriots he seemed to be dancing with to no music – Rias and Issei. Rias and Issei seemed to be laughing over nothing, and then he realised too was laughing over nothing, yet he couldn't control himself. Suddenly time sped up around him, as if it was being fast-forwarded. Next thing Taro knew, he was being kissed by Rias, who was laughing at the same time. She then moved on to doing likewise with Issei – kissing and laughing. Despite the jealousy swelling in his core, he still couldn't stop laughing - even when it seemed to be him and Issei's turn to kiss, with both duly complying.

Things became blurred during the next fast forward, but he still had sensations that gave him an indicator of what happened. He remembered caressing someone's body – he was fairly certain it was Rias', based on the way it felt and the shape of things. In the blur of movement of sound he later heard, what he thought was himself, say "oh, wow, this is my first time." Grunts and moans followed this.

Thins finally became clear around him, with light flooding into the room from the windows. ' _It must've been the night time earlier, as now it is the morning_.' Memories from that night of fun flooded in his to his mind. He looked at who was directly facing him and smiled – it was Rias. His first time must have been with her last night. Excitement started to bubble within him, struggling to control his desire to cheer with joy.

"Oh, hi," she murmured, struggling to keep her eyes open, "so what did you two get up to after I went to sleep? It sounded like a lot of fun."

"'You two'?" he replied cautiously. He then noticed an arm that looked too big and rough to be a woman's around his torso. Taro turned his head around towards the owner of this arm to find Issei sleeping on the other side of him. "Issei? Wait," he said, another memory reawakening in his mind, "Rias, that was you who stuck a cheeky finger up my arse last night, right?"

"What? No, why would I do that?" she responded.

"Well something slipped up there."

"Oh, morning, buddy. Last night was fun. I'm so glad my first time was with you," said the voice behind him, pulling Taro in closer to hug him tightly.

' _No… no… no…_ ' "NO!" Taro shrieked, his eyes opening suddenly to find himself again in the unfamiliar room, with Akeno and Rias asleep to the sides of him, and Issei in the corner of the room seated. Taro pointed at Issei and said in a hushed shout, "my ass is a 'no entry' zone, you hear me? Things only come out, nothing goes in."

This dream, however, left some burning questions about his latent subconscious mind that demanded immediate answers. He tapped Rias on the shoulder and called her name. She did not stir. He did so again, with the same result. Taro gave her a more forceful jab at the third time of asking, finally waking her.

"What?!" she muttered angrily, "oh, you're awake," her tone softening, "how are you feeling? You had a heart attack like event," she said, putting her hand in a reassuring way.

"Yes, yes, there are more pressing things to discuss, Rias. Am I gay?" said Taro.

"What? That's not really for me to decide. Who would you prefer to have sex with, Kiba or I?"

"You," he replied without hesitation.

"Then why are you asking me this question?"

He considered whether he should tell Rias about the dream, but instead he decided better of it. "No reason, no reason. Go back to sleep, we can talk in the morning," he told her.

"Okay, talk to you then," she said, resting her head back on her pillow.

Taro was then hit with an overwhelming damp sensation lower down his body. He lifted the covers and looked down. "For fuck's sake, how have I had a wet dream about that? This is very disconcerting."

 _ **/**_

The morning eventually came, with Taro's sleep no longer disturbed by peculiar and disturbing dreams. Upon his awakening, he was briefed by Azazel on what had caused his fall and his heart problems, and what had followed his fall.

Azazel told him that: "It seems that your high paced and stressful life of being on the run constantly from a young age has had an effect on your body. This effect has been increased extensively by your excessive teleporting, putting further strain on your body. The problems that were already bubbling below the surface came to the forefront much earlier than expected, after the exertion of teleporting to the dimensional gap. Asia has since healed you, but these problems are still very much there. You need to try and reduce the amount of stress you're under and the amount you teleport. I'm not saying that you can't teleport anymore, but I wouldn't recommend teleporting over great distances – like through dimensions. Otherwise, the next time this occurs we might not be able to get to you in time and you may suffer your last breath.

"We had to take you to the Gremory household in the Underworld for treatment, so that you'd be under the supervision of carers who specialise in looking after devils. That's why the room doesn't look familiar to you."

Taro nodded to demonstrate his understanding and Azazel departed, leaving Taro alone in the room. Taro looked down at his feet deeply, battling with a feeling he'd never experienced before – a sense of his mortality. He'd never needed to in the past, as devils have very long life spans – but it seemed he was not going to be a devil blessed with such a luxury. Taro's self-reflection was interrupted by a knock on the door echoing through the room. Taro called for them to enter. Issei strolled into the room.

"Alright, mate?" said Issei, walking over to Taro.

"I've been better, you?" replied Taro.

"Yeah, not bad, not bad."

The two then proceeded to perform their new secret handshake, which they devised whilst staying at Roba and his wife's home. The handshake began with a simple bump of the fists; they then turned their hands – still in contact via the bump – ninety degrees clockwise. This was followed by the withdrawal of their hands, with a bump of the elbows coming next, whilst also bringing their other hand down – their palms open – on to the other's elbow. After this they grabbed each other's hand in an almost handshake-like way - but with the thumbs wrapped around each other – and proceeded to tickle the other's knuckles on that hand. As they again began to withdraw their hands from one another, they complete the handshake by clicking with the other's fingers.

"You're aware that the knuckle tickle segment of the handshake symbolises that we agree to share women, right?" said Taro.

"What?" Issei squawked.

"Yeah, it first originated in Newcastle in the 1980s."

"We're not doing that part again then."

"No, it remains part of the handshake. We both agreed to that being in the handshake."

"Only because you insisted on it, knowing of my ignorance of its implications."

"Well we've done it now, the agreement has been made – it's too late to turn back now."

"You're a sneaky cunt, you know that?"

"Yes."

Issei adopted a more serious tone, "speaking of shared women, I had a chat with Rias and Akeno whilst you were asleep. We've managed to work out our differences. I'm still not entirely happy about losing the two to you though."

This stirred a memory of a recent dream in Taro's mind, "did this conversation happen at the end of my bed?"

"No."

"Did either of them kiss you at the end, or did you kiss them?"

"No, why?"

"No reason, just paranoia. Regardless, buddy, I think they're just going through their bad boy phase with me."

"But you're not a bad boy."

"I'm badder than you."

"No, you're more of a cunt than me."

"Synonyms, synonyms."

Issei again changed the subject, "I was talking to this guy, 'Ryland' (see Chapter 6 reviews. Alright, buddy?), about our situation, and he said that you were a homewrecker. Thoughts?"

"Well, firstly, that guy sounds like a dick. Is 'Ryland' even a real name? Secondly, there is some truth in that. I would happily step on you, or anyone else, to get what I want. In this scenario, sadly you were the one in my way – well, sort of, as you'd actually been very kind and stepped so far out my way that you were in a different dimension."

Issei looked at him questionably.

"But, you know, bros before hoes and all that shit."

"I'm going to go, as I know that others are waiting to see you. I'll talk to you soon, mate," said Issei slowly and hesitantly, quickly leaving the room.

"Yeah, see you," Taro called after him, but he was gone.

Rias and Akeno then entered the room, swiftly carrying themselves over to his bed, both seating themselves on both sides of the bed, seated.

"So, how are you feeling?" asked Rias.

"I've been better. But I've been thinking, I'm basically Batman," Taro replied.

"How are you 'basically Batman'?" Rias questioned, doubt echoing through her words.

"I'm mysterious, I'm dark, I wear dark clothes; I've got money, I've got a killer backstory, and I'm perpetually fighting off female attention."

"Yeah, but you're not particularly muscular, you don't wear a bat costume; you don't have a gruff, husky voice, you don't have a sense of duty to others, and you're never serious in a fight – you started dancing and singing midway through a fight, after all," Akeno chimed in.

"You're more like the Joker, as you like to wear makeup," said Rias, with both her and Akeno laughing at this.

"That was one time, and it was to cover up my wounds," replied Taro.

"It's only been one time, as far as we know. We haven't known you long enough to know you're not privy to wearing makeup from time to time," Akeno retorted.

Taro decided that he was fighting a losing battle regarding the makeup and resolved to tackle the other issues they drew with his comparison. "What do you mean 'I'm not muscular'? Is that what you want out of me? Drugs are legal in the Underworld, should be I be on the prowl for some 'roids?"

"No, we can't have your penis getting any smaller," replied Rias, with her and Akeno again bursting out laughing.

Tarro laughed sarcastically, "this is how it always is. I'm nothing but nice to you two. I'm always going on about how great you both look, and how you're both strong, powerful, smart young ladies. But what do I get in return? Jibes at my height, my character, and my penis size from you, Rias - just general assaults on my ego, that damage my confidence and self-esteem. Whilst Akeno tries to inflict physical pain upon me for her own amusement, and arousal, like poking my sigil. I bet that Akeno is, right now, restraining herself from poking my face where I got punched."

"I am, that's true. I really want to see you squirm in pain, it'd be really funny and kind of hot," said Akeno.

"It's just so funny how you react though, because you take yourself so seriously," replied Rias.

"No, you girls just don't take me seriously enough or as seriously as you should. I am a big deal and deserve to be treated as such, I should be constantly on the receiving end of verbal abuse. You know what this is? An abusive relationship. I am on the wrong end of an abusive relationship."

Rias and Akeno had to cover their mouths at this response, unable to hold back the laughter. So funny did they find this,that Akeno fell off of the bed, causing further hilarity between the two.

"This only further illustrates my point. Why don't you teach your hearts to feel and give your love love, give it all away? Why don't you teach your hearts to talk and give your love love, give me what I need?

"I'm just a bit of arm candy to you girls, aren't I? Something to flaunt to your girl friends, when you want to show off your sexy boyfriend. But you just want me to be seen and not heard. Well, guess what? I have feelings too. I'm not just a piece of meat. I spend a lot of time making myself look beautiful for you girls and what do I get in return? Insulted. I cover my cuts so that I still have my pretty face and get called a girl for it. How would you like it if I started insulting your looks? Well, here's a taste of your own medicine, you both look…"

Taro paused, whilst the girls looked at him expectantly.

"… great. No, I can't say anything bad about you two, you're both perfect," said Taro, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. He looked away from them – he didn't want them to see him cry.

"So one minute we're insulting your looks, next minute we only like you for your looks? There's a little bit of inconsistency here," Rias pointed out.

"Shut up!" Taro cried out, no longer could he fend off the tears.

"Aww, we're sorry you don't feel valued," said Akeno, with both girls finally able to fight the desire to laugh. They circled around him and pulled him into their bosoms, in a tight hug.

"We sometimes forget how sensitive you are. Does this make you feel better?" asked Rias.

"I'm not sensitive, I am a man!" he wailed, but then softened his tone, "but, yes, this does make feel better."

"Come on, girls, if you hug him like that you run the risk of giving him a real heart attack," chuckled a voice from behind them. It was Azazel's. "Sorry, I left my pen in here. It's my favourite pen, so I couldn't wait," he informed them, walking over to a desk on the side of the room and picking up a random pen. "Are you feeling any pain, Taro?"

"Only where Issei punched and kicked me. My heart feels fine, right now. Although I am having to hide the callous comments the two girls directed towards me from my heart, as I don't think it'd be right to tell my heart, my achy breaky heart. I just don't think he'd understand. And if I tell my heart, my achy breaky heart, it might blow up and kill this man."

"An understandable problem to consider after your recent heart problems. I can give you a prescription for some painkillers, if you'd like?"

"No, I have some ideas for painkillers of my own. We are in the underworld after all, where drugs are legal."

 _ **/**_

Rias pushed Taro along the streets of the roughest area of the Gremory district in a wheelchair. Taro reclined back, leaning his head against her chest, deep in thought. His trail of thought was interrupted by the young lady behind him calling his name, "Taro! Taro, are you listening to me?"

"Hm, yes, of course I am, dear," he said quickly. But listening, he was not.

"I can tell from your tone that you weren't."

' _Drat_.'

"It's bad enough that you're making me push you about in a wheelchair when you don't need one, but to not listen to me either is just plain rude."

"I do require the wheelchair. I am an invalid."

"No, you are not."

Again sensing that he was in a losing battle, with this one containing the potential for him to have to walk and not rest on Rias' chest, Taro changed the subject. "So what were you saying?"

"Can we trust your 'dealer'?"

"Yeah, I've dealt with him on multiple occasions. He's a good friend of mine; he wouldn't dare rip me off. He knows what I can do. He's already found out once the hard way. He's one of the best around. He's a good guy."

"A good guy who deals drugs? I find it that hard to believe. Also, I don't understand why you feel the need to be taking drugs."

"I think it'll help my bad boy, lone wolf image. And also what do celebrities tell kids they meet?"

"To have sex with them, and in return they'll launch their career with backing vocals in their next song or a supporting role in their next film?"

"No, not quite what I meant."

"Don't do drugs and stay in school?"

"Bingo," said Taro, "and when was the last time I went to school?"

"Two or three weeks ago?"

"Exactly - after the various things that have come up recently, I have not been staying in school. So I've already failed with one of those things, so I might as well as fail at the other."

"Questionable logic."

A scruffy looking with gentleman with long, unwashed hair and an untidy beard, dressed in a tight tank top that did not compliment his frame suddenly called out Taro's name and came bounding over. "My man," he called to Taro.

"Karu!" said Taro.

"What happened to you, mate, you look rough?"

"Normal shit, man. You know what it's like."

"Yes, yes, I do," Karu chuckled, then noticing Rias behind the chair, "is this your bird?"

"His 'bird'?" Rias muttered angrily under her breath, her fist clenching.

"Ignore her, she's just the legs," said Taro.

"'Ignore me'?" she growled.

"She looks like she has a bit more than just great legs, mate," Karu laughed.

"Hoho, banter," Taro cackled.

"Banter!"

"Banter!"

"Banter."

"Banter."

"I am Rias Gremory, you will not talk of me like I'm not even there, particularly when my family owns this very land. I am going to kill you both," Rias snarled. And before either of the 'gentlemen' were aware of what was happening, they found themselves blasting off into the air like Team Rocket.

 _ **/**_

"Your actions bumped up the price of the weed there, I hope that you're aware of that," said Taro, who was now having to push himself along by rolling his hands over the wheels of the wheelchair as they returned to the Gremory home.

"I don't care. You both deserved it," replied Rias, her arms crossed across her chest defiantly.

"I'm sorry about that. He's a bit of a sexist, I'm afraid, and I've learnt that you need to be able to talk the lingo around here to survive."

"You can shoot daggers out of your sleeves, why do you need to 'talk the lingo' to survive?"

"To avoid making a scene and drawing attention to myself, which you did by the way."

"That's bullshit, and are you trying to make things worse?"

"No, no, I'm sorry. I have not conducted myself in the correct fashion today. My sincerest apologies."

"And you had the cheek to kick off about Akeno and I mistreating you."

"There are elements of hypocrisy in my actions, but perhaps I was merely giving you a taste of your own medicine."

"You're a dick, you know that?"

"But I'm your dick, right?"

"No, Taro, I don't have a dick. I'm not a Thai stripper."

 _ **/**_

The Occult Research Club assembled for the evening meal at the dining table of the Gremory household. As they awaited supper, the final person to dine with them arrived. This particular gentleman drew all attention as he entered the room, his crimson hair and very presence dragging their attention towards them. It was the devil himself: Sirzechs Gremory.

"Hello, how lovely it is to see you all again," said Sirzechs with a friendly smile, as he sat himself down at the head of the table. "Issei, it is wonderful to see you that you are alive and well. It brought me great joy when I found out that you had returned. After this, I would love to hear about what happened to you and what you witnessed whilst in the dimensional gap."

Issei nodded and told Sirzechs that it was good to see him too, and that he would love to detail his wanderings later in the evenings.

"And, Taro, thank you for retrieving Issei from the dimensional gap – you showed great bravery by putting your life at risk to save the man you stole women from. A juxtaposition of shows of nobility if I ever saw one," said Sirzechs.

"I sense he isn't overly keen on me. Is it because of all the trouble I used to cause those he sent for me? Seems a bit petty, to be honest," Taro whispered to Rias, who jabbed him in the leg. He cried out in pain.

"But, of course," continued Sirzechs, ignoring the commotion to the side of him, "I was also delighted to learn that one last scrap of the Tokushumono family remained. I'm sorry that we couldn't save your family."

"Rias, you told him?! I asked you not to, god dammit," said Taro.

"He asked, so I answered truthfully," Rias replied apathetically.

Taro turned to Sirzechs, "are you going to force me to lead your armies now and perform my filial duty?"

"No, I would never force you to do anything. Is this why you didn't want me to find out about your true identity?"

"Partly."

After these initial greetings, dinner continued as it would be expected, idle chitchat and small talk filling the room. As this meal reached its ending, Sirzechs pulled the Occult Research Club back to give them a parting message, before they took their leave from the table.

"I have a task I'd like for you to fulfil. It'll be very dangerous, but it is of paramount importance and I trust you completely to have the skillset to complete it."

"We'll do whatever you ask of us, we fear nothing," replied Rias.

"Our intel has discovered one of the still active bases of the weakened Khaos Brigade. We're given to understand that they were behind the water demon attack and those who tracked Taro, as well as some other activity that has caused us issues elsewhere. I'd like for you to travel to this base, sneak in, and take it down from within. This is a coming of age mission that I only assign this to you because of our weakened numbers after the previous battle with the Khaos Brigade."

"We can do this, brother, I assure you," said Rias.

"I know. You will need to travel there by ship, however, so I hope that none of you have any problems with this."

"This just turned into One Piece," muttered Taro.

"Ya-yo, ya-yo, ya-yo, hoo-hoo. Set sail for One Piece, it's the name of the treasure in the Grand Line," replied Issei.

Taro laughed, "nice one! Pound it," stretching out his clenched fist, which Issei proceeded to 'pound', with his clenched fist.

"I'm not sure how I feel about that, it's a very strange relationship," said Sirzechs to his sister.

"No one's quite sure, Sirzechs," Rias responded, "and no one quite understands it."


	8. Chapter 1,8: How Deep Is Your Love

**The Love Octagon Venn Diagram**

 _A High School DxD fanfic_

 _By me_

 _Rated M_

Chapter 8: How Deep Is Your Love

The ship they travelled on wasn't a spectacularly amazing one, but it was still mildly impressive. They had been given a ship that was large enough to carry their numbers, but not so large as to raise alarm on the other side. They wanted to maintain the appearance of just being a transportation ship. Sirzechs gave the club an experienced crew of seamen to manage the ship whilst they journeyed across and for the return journey. Two young men found themselves temporarily incapacitated from uncontrollable laughing at Sirzechs telling them he was giving them some 'seamen'.

At present, Taro and Issei currently resided in the bunkers under the decking, smoking Taro's 'painkillers'. The two sat on the floor, with their backs leaning against a wall, and their legs stretched out across the floorboards.

"Hehe, 'seamen'," laughed Issei, as he brought the joint to his lips.

"So on your first ever date you got murdered? That's fucking hilarious and one of the best things I've ever heard," said Taro, taking the joint from Issei and doing likewise.

"Yeah, I found it fucking hilarious too. I'm still not sure what was funnier: her stabbing me through the stomach or her leaving me to die in a pool of my own blood."

"Both are pretty funny, to be fair."

"I was being sarcastic."

"I wasn't."

 _ **/**_

The rest of the Occult Research Club were on the top deck, looking out across the sea in anticipation of what awaited them. Rias breathed in the fresh sea air, feeling it cleansing the bad toxins. However, the air smelt strangely different to her, as if something had contaminated the air.

"Lady Gremory, smoke appears to be emitting from decking below," one of the seamen told her.

"What?" she replied, looking around the top deck and noticing that Taro and Issei were missing. Her eyes widened in horror at what may be befalling them. She raced down the stairs to the lower deck, running into a wall of smoke. Albeit this smoke didn't smell like something burning, it was a smell that was unfamiliar to her. Behind the wall of smoke she heard voices.

"Taro, kiss, marry, kill: Nick Jonas, Justin Bieber and Harry Styles," said one of the voices.

"Ooh, that's a tricky one," began the other, "I think that I'd kiss Harry Styles as he looks a bit like a girl currently anyway; I'd marry Nick Jonas as he's the most clean-cut of the three and, with his new haircut, seems the toughest and the most able to look after me, the other two seem more like they'd need me to look after them; and I'd kill Justin Bieber because he's a bit of a dick and a poser."

"Sound choices, mate, sound choices," said the first voice.

Rias recognised these two voices as that of Issei and Taro's. As they began to become clearer behind the smoke, she came to the discovery of what was causing the smoke. Anger filled her, frustrated that she'd allowed herself to get so worried over these two idiots.

"Whilst I was travelling across the world on the run, I found myself in England at the formation of One Direction. I went on the X-Factor as being on a popular show would give me safety and stability, and I was actually going to be in One Direction, but I didn't make the cut when they decided that six was too many. In the end, it was between Niall Horan and I. Whilst I had Niall for looks and talent, they felt that they already had Asian diversity with Zayn, so they decided to go with Niall because he was Irish. It was devastating. The worst part is that the other four have basically copied aspects of my look since. Zayn, Louis and Liam have all made poor attempts at beards, whilst Zayn and Harry have both attempted to copy my long hair," said Taro to Issei.

"Unlucky, man, I'm sorry to hear of that. I mean, I'm pretty sure that's bullshit, but I feel a level of sympathy nonetheless," replied Issei.

"Thanks, mate."

Taro and Issei's little chat was then interrupted by a cough from within the smoke. Rias stepped out from the smoke, with her arms crossed and a look of disdain etched across her face.

"Oh, hi, Rias. Kiss, marry, kill: Nick Jonas, Justin Bieber and Harry Styles," said Issei with a friendly smile.

"Hey, Rias, did you just press the F5 key, because you are refreshing?" Taro chuckled, he turned to Issei, "pound it?"

"No."

"Too soon?"

"Partly, but also because that's a shit line."

"Tough crowd."

"What do you think you two are doing?" she said sharply, fury bubbling below the surface.

"Oh, well, um, the weed is to help with the pain of my wounds, and Issei was feeling a bit seasick so I let him have some to take the edge off of things," Taro bumbled.

No longer able to control her rage, Rias smacked them both in the face. "Upstairs, now, and put that out, you could cause a fire."

"No, it'll be fine," said Taro, rubbing his face. But the ship tilted to the side slightly and the joint fell out from his grip, "oh, shit!"

"I've got this!" cried Issei, unzipping his trousers, whipping it out and relieving himself on the joint.

"Aw, man, you've just ruined perfectly good weed. I'm not touching that now you've pissed on it," whined Taro.

"Well, I'm not picking it up," responded Issei.

"Yes, you are – it's your piss," replied Taro defiantly.

"No, I'm not!"

This back and forth continued for several more moments, with Rias finally stepping in and telling Taro to pick it up as it was his to begin with. Rias then dragged them by their ears up the stairs, back on to the top deck. Taro threw the joint into the ocean, tears filling his eyes as he watched it float away.

"I hope we don't have to deal with a high shark attacking the boat because of this," he mumbled.

 _ **/**_

A thick, ice cold fog started to fill the sky around them. Their vision now obscured, the large pieces of ice occupying the spaces in front of them came as quite a surprise to the club and crew. They found themselves travelling at a much slower pace, having to manoeuvre themselves around the chunks of ice that floated before them in the water. The ship was made of strong, durable wood, but whenever they hit a sizeable portion of ice, they felt a shudder go through the vessel.

Hanging over the ship's ledge with her cat-like balance, Koneko could just about make out a figure in the mist, travelling across the ice in the distance on a sleigh led by dogs. This figure's silhouette looked disproportionately large, looking bigger than any normal man. Koneko called to those closest to her – Xenovia, Asia, Kiba and Irina – they scrambled over and managed to see the being's faint figure in the distance, as it travelled out of their vision's range. Undecided as to whether it was worth alerting the others to this figure's presence, they decided to leave it for now, feeling it was best to only bring it up if it came up naturally.

As they continued on their merry way, a man appeared before them. This man was whiter than the moon, looking like he was on the verge of death, with the stranger's decaying frame. They had never seen a more interesting creature.

"Hello, would you like to come aboard?" called one of the seamen.

"What way are you going?" asked the stranger.

"West-bound."

"Very well."

They threw the rigging down and the stranger climbed aboard, with this physical exertion taking a lot out of him. After scrambling aboard, the stranger collapsed and fell out of consciousness. He was carried to the sleeping area below the deck and placed in one of the beds. He remained in that state for several hours, finally coming out of this state. When he was judged to be strong enough, the club circled around him, to ask what he was doing out in this deadly, ice bound arena, alone.

"My tale will be one that you will struggle to believe, but it is all true," said the stranger, whose voice had an air of conviction and confidence in it, despite his weak frame.

"Please, go on. We're not the kind of people to doubt what others may label impossible," replied Rias.

"Okay," began the stranger, "my story begins in Austria, when the man who would go on to be my father travelled to a small town where a good friend of his had just passed away, after battling with illness after a fall from grace that left him in a state of poverty. Whilst gravely sick, the friend's daughter had been running herself ragged to look after him and keep them afloat. My father took this much younger woman under his wing and eventually married. Soon, came I.

I was their plaything and their idol, but most importantly their child – an innocent and helpless creature. My parents showered me with love. No human being could have passed a happier childhood than myself-"

"No, no, no. This is way too far back. We don't have all day. Just get to what's relevant," interrupted Taro.

"Taro," barked Rias, grabbing and pulling at his jaw, "don't be rude!"

"This is all relevant, but I understand your frustration. I will try to speed things along," replied the stranger, "throughout my childhood I was capable of a more intense application and a thirst for knowledge. After seeing a bolt of lightning strike a tree, I took an interest in galvanism. After going to university – sadly, after the passing of my mother – I entered with the greatest diligence in search of the elixir of life and the philosopher's stone. After conducting my studies, I made it my purpose to infuse life into an inanimate body. I took the limbs of the deceased and attached them together, in order to get the intricacy and the complexity of the body I had to make them larger than usual. I eventually used electricity to give life to this being. When looking upon it, I was shocked by its ugliness – it was a monster. I had used electricity to give life to a monster."

"And Akeno can use electricity to give life to my little monster, if you know what I mean," called out Taro.

"Yes, that was quality - pound it!" Issei replied, stretching out his fist, which Taro bumped.

"I'd be happy to electrocute your penis, if that's what you're into," Akeno whispered into Taro's ear, whose eyes widened in surprise and dismay. Things had taken a strange turn he hadn't expected and of which he now feared intensely.

"May I continue?" the stranger said, frustration in his words.

"Yes, sorry," said Taro sheepishly.

"I fled for a few hours. When I returned it was gone. I eventually travelled back home – after recovering from a terrible illness - to find that my youngest brother had been murdered, and that our amiable and benevolent maid was on trial for it. After seeing my monster in the distance, I was certain that it was truly the one responsible. But our maid was still hung for the crime. In a fit of guilt, I travelled to the mountains, where I found my creature.

It owned up to killing my brother and told me of how it had initially started out kind, but after being attacked based on its appearance by humans, gentleness and kindness gave place to hellish rage and gnashing of teeth. The wretch demanded that I create a female version of itself, and in return I would never again hear of it. I reluctantly agreed.

Whilst I created it this being, I was hit by the realisation that these two could reproduce to form several more little monsters that could wreak havoc upon mankind. I destroyed my work, enraging the wretch, who first killed my friend in return, and told me it would be 'with me on my wedding night'. In the eve of my wedding day – marrying my adopted sister – the monster returned to execute my new wife too, before I got the chance to even consummate my marriage. My father soon died out of sorrow. They are all the hapless victims of my unhallowed arts. I am the author of the most unalterable evils.

I took it upon myself to kill this wretch that I had created, bringing me here, where I still trace its steps."

"That's quite the story, mr- sorry, I don't think we ever caught your name," Rias responded.

"Dictor Bantenstein," the stranger responded.

"I think we've discovered who found the weed I tossed overboard. This guy is clearly off his tits," said Taro, "how would two beings made from deceased limbs procreate? They won't be able to produce sperm or an egg. It seems like you inflicted death on your family because a lack of thought."

"Taro, that is incredibly rude!" said Rias sharply, against pulling at his jaw.

Taro whined but apologised nonetheless. Dictor said it was no problem, seeming distressed and distracted by this realisation. Koneko piped up about what they'd seen in the distance, verifying Dictor's story. Dictor begged them to aid him in his quest, with Rias reluctantly agreeing that they would spend the next two days aiding him – for they had a task of their own to complete.

 _ **/**_

The days passed slowly and without success, whilst Dictor grew sicker and sicker, becoming unable to bring himself to stand, eventually ending up bedridden. Eventually, Dictor lost his fight and passed away, his quest going unfulfilled and his vengeance unavenged.

Asia, told to let him pass away as it would be for the best - for Dictor was already too far gone mentally and physically - carried herself gloomily up the staircase, to give news of Dictor's death to the others. A sudden change in the weight on the ship lead to a rocking slightly, causing Asia to fall over. As she attempted to get back up, a large mass stepped on her and she heard steps behind her going into the bunker below, where the deceased Bantenstein lay. Asia turned around and slowly manoeuvred herself back down the steps, she poked her head around the door to look in, seeing a large creature hovering over the body of Dictor Bantenstein, weeping.

She went and retrieved her peers, who also came down to look in, shock etching across their faces at this vision of a monster.

"Should we approach it?" asked Xenovia.

"Let's just see what happens," replied Rias.

The monster began to speak through its tears, as it lifted Dictor's body up to cradle it in its arm, "this is also my victim, but also my last. I am wretch and shall travel to the unknown to create a pyre for myself, to set fire to myself and end the world's suffering through my existence."

"Am I still tripping?" whispered Taro, "this feels like too much of a trip for weed though, did Karu accidentally include some peyote in there?"

"No, we're all seeing this too," Kiba informed him.

"Could be second hand fumes affecting you though," Taro reminded Kiba.

The creature lifted the corpse and started to walk towards the door, its heavy steps echoing around the room, a solemn expression covering its face.

"Shit, it's coming this way, what should we do?" asked Irina.

"Just act natural, like you haven't been watching it," replied Rias.

They then attempted to make the most 'natural' poses they could adopt – of course, instead actually doing very unnatural things. The monster pushed the door open and stepped out from behind it, seeing several people making very strange poses along the staircase, all looking away from him.

"Alright?" mumbled Taro, his hand tilting his head up via his chin, attempting to look like he was looking philosophically into the sky, deep in thought.

The monster paused in its tracks, not sure how to react to what was before it. It nodded hesitantly, as a greeting to Taro, not wanting to be rude.

"Should we attack it?" asked Kiba.

Rias attempted to nod subtly, out of the creature's line of sight. The three swords wielders led the fight. They charged in, swinging their blades down upon the creature. The creature let out a blood curdling scream, as the blades made contact with its torso, but the swords could not break his scream. The creature smashed the blades away, and their wielders along with them went flying. As Rossweisse prepared to strike it, the monster turned around and smacked her right in the face, knocking her out. Rage filled its cries, as it attempted to bulldoze its way through the remaining club, members, putting its head down and charging like a bull.

"Akeno," called Rias, "electrocute it to see if it has an opposite effect on it."

"Okay," Akeno replied cautiously.

They allowed the monster to breeze past them on to the deck, Akeno stepped out and shot lightning at its back. The creature fell to the floor, all its pieces coming apart. One of its massive fists fired in their direction and smacked Taro in the face. He squealed in pain, falling to the floor.

"Maybe it was just lookin for you to 'pound it'?" Rias suggested with a wry smile, the other members laughing. Except for Taro, he didn't quite get the joke. He just wept.

 _ **/**_

The rest of their voyage was far less eventful – bar being attacked by a 'high shark' that had trailed them for several days, in hope of more of the 'green stuff' (vegetables like peas and spinach, obviously), eventually becoming angry and throwing itself against the bottom of the boat. This incident was followed by an expected 'I told you so' from Taro. Three days later, they reached their destination – the island in which one of the few remaining Khaos Brigade factions resided. They had come to the decision that the best way to infiltrate the base via an array of caves below the base, which started off at the shoreline. This system of caves led into a maze, of which one wrong move could leave them lost for eternity - their route mapped out by the sources of Sirzechs before their initial departure.

The club left their ship and the seamen, promptly entering into the cave. As they moved further and further in, the light from the outside became dimmer and dimmer, until eventually no light seeped in.

"I hope no one's afraid of the dark," remarked Kiba.

"I've got a fire for a heart, I'm not scared of the dark, you've never seen it look so easy," replied Taro, "although I am scared of spiders, tight spaces and clowns."

"Clowns?" questioned Issei.

"Have you ever heard of the tale about the clown statue that turns out to a real person?"

"Yeah."

"That's why. And clowns look weird and their humour is completely forced, and not clever like mine."

"You just make boner jokes," Koneko interjected.

"Exactly, a very clever form of humour indeed," said Taro.

Rossweisse lit the way with a small fire from her fingertips, leading the way at the front. However, her dim flame only lit what was before them, not what was behind them.

Taro shrieked.

"What is it?" Rias yelped.

"Sorry, sorry, nothing. One of my hands in my pockets just pressed against my leg and I didn't realise it was my own, so I startled myself."

"For fuck's sake, can you please stop being an idiot?"

Later, a similar incident occurred.

Akeno screamed, "something just went up the back of my skirt."

"I think that might've been my hand too," said Taro bluntly.

"You think?" asked Kiba.

"I'm certain," Taro replied.

Akeno pulled his hand out and slapped him with it, "no," she told him firmly.

"Soz," Taro responded.

As they continued on their not so merry way, again the lack of light at the rear of the party proved to be a problem. Something like string wrapped itself around Taro, jolting him backwards and carrying him away from the others. Taro smashed against the sides of the cave, inflicting further injury upon him.

"Taro!" Rias, Akeno and Issei all cried.

"Issei!" Taro cried back.

"Why did he call your name and not either of ours?" Rias asked Issei.

"I guess we just have to ask a simple question to ourselves regarding how feel about Taro: how deep is your love? Taro and I must just have a deeper bond. It's not that surprising though, we have lived through the classic brom-com plot. We went on a 'lads holiday' of sorts together, had some banter, then a crushing home truth caused a divide between us, we got in a fight – over a girl no less – and eventually we made up and became better friends for it. You guys only dip in and out of a rom-com plot, we've done the full Monty of ours," replied Issei.

 _ **/**_

' _Why did I call out Issei's name?_ _Wait, this'll do the trick,_ ' "no homo," called out Taro, but they were unable to hear him.

Taro continued to hurtle through the cave, unable to free himself from the binds of this strange, sticky substance looping around him. Eventually he slipped into a crevice and finally stopped moving. There was a small gap above him, letting in the moon's light, which shone done upon him and allowed him enough light to look around. He could see nothing – his captor remained a mystery. Taro tried to teleport out from bound him, but found it was no use – these binds were negating his magic.

' _Calling out Issei's name is only going to make me look suspect. On the one hand, I'd look like less of a weakling if I'm saved by a man, but being the damsel in distress to a male knight will just raise questions I'd rather not answer. Whilst being carried out by a female knight – with roles reversed – just makes me look like a pussy. This is a tricky situation. Would Rias or Akeno even be able to carry me out like my knight in shining armour?_ '

Taro looked up towards the moon and sighed, "somewhere out there, beneath the pale moonlight, someone's thinking of me and loving me tonight."

 _ **/**_

Issei turned away from Rias and Akeno and looked up at a crack in the cave and saw the moon gazing back down at him, "somewhere out there, someone's saying a prayer, that we'll find one another, in that big somewhere out there.

And even though I know how very far apart we are, it helps to think we might be wishing, on the same bright star."

 _ **/**_

Taro looked to the moon, "And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby, it helps to think we might be sleeping, underneath the big sky."

 _ **/**_

The two both looked up towards the moon, tears filling their eyes, "somewhere out there, if love can see us through, then we'll be together – somewhere out there, out where dreams come true."

 _ **/**_

Taro exhaled and looked away from the moon. The area around him then became very dark, he looked back up to find the moon blocked and the identity of his kidnapper revealed.

"Oh, shit, this is genuinely the worst thing that could have happened," Taro groaned, "Issei!"

"Taro!" he heard a voice cry out in the distance.

"Issei!"

"Taro, is that you?"

"Issei, yes, it's me!"

"Where are you?"

"I'm over here."

"That tells me nothing."

"Look, Issei, we've got a brother over here and he's a little bit scared."

"What's happened?"

"I'm trapped in a tight space, in this web-like thing. Well, not web-like. It's a giant web. And I'm currently looking at a massive spider with clown makeup on."

"Oh, no, I'll be there as soon as I can. It's just I'm worried about getting lost and not being able to find the others."

"I'll teleport us back to them, okay?"

"Why don't you just teleport out of the webbing?"

"They're negating my magic."

"Oh."

"Follow the sound of my voice."

"Okay," said Issei, but his step was interrupted by a roar filling the caves, "wait, what was that?"

"I don't know and I don't care, just get me out of these god forsaken webs! I don't wish to become spider food."

"Just hold on."

Large, bounding steps started to echo around Issei, as something seemed to be coming he, Rias and Akeno's way. Grunts and grumbles started to become louder and a large, oddly shaped shadow started to appear at a corner. Finally the silhouette became a figure and a great beast looked back at them.

"What is that?" mumbled Issei.

"I think that it's a…," began Rias, "minotaur."

"What's happening?" called out Taro.

"There's some freaky thing with a man's bottom half and a bull's top half staring at us and looking very angry," replied Issei.

"There's a minotaur in a maze? Am I still high?" said Taro.

"We'll be with you as soon as we can, Taro, but this may take a while," Rias shouted.

"I'll just try and use my signature charm to distract the spider then, shall I?" Taro responded.

 _ **/**_

The Minotaur began to paw at the ground, gearing up to charge at them. Issei gulped, as the dragon armour coated his left arm. The Minotaur snarled at them. Issei felt a warm sensation going down his leg.

The beast then hit stride and stampeded in their direction, it lowered its head to show off its razor sharp horns, which were eager to drive through one of the three club members before it. The club members managed to dive out of the way, throwing themselves to the sides, smacking against the walls of the cave, in a desperate attempt to escape the Minotaur's clutches.

Blocking out the pain from her fall, Rias unleashed a ball of black magic, sending it flying at the Minotaur. The ball struck the beast in the shoulder, searing its skin and burning off the hair there – the Minotaur screamed in response, before turning around to face Rias, fury bubbling up within it. It roared, as it began to paw at the ground again, bearing down on Rias.

Akeno let out a burst of lightning on the Minotaur's back, scorching its back. The Minotaur howled in pain again. It turned around to face Akeno now, and did not hesitate to charge. Issei threw himself shoulder first into the beast, sending the two rolling into the wall. The Minotaur was the first to recover itself and get back up, standing up on its knees and looking down upon Issei. Issei's heart sunk as the beast dived upon him, Issei lifted his left arm and unleashed a burst of power at the lunging Minotaur. The surge of energy clattered into the mythical figure, sending it flying into the top of the cave. It came back down with a 'thud'.

But, yet again, the Minotaur got back up. Despite being in poor physical condition, it still remained a rage ridden beast that would not go down. It got to its feet and charged again at Issei, Issei closed his eyes, his courage temporarily abandoning him, as he waited for the pain. Instead, Issei heard the sound of metal against flesh and a blood curdling screech. Issei finally found the strength to open his eyes, seeing Xenovia and Kiba stood over the decapitated corpse of the Minotaur, both holding unfamiliar swords.

"Xenovia? Kiba? What are you doing here?" asked Rias.

"We heard the roars of this creature and felt you might need backup. Upon seeing what it was we realised that we required a certain sword to slay it," replied Xenovia.

"Aegus – the sword of Theseus," added Kiba, "although what we wield are replicas."

"Well, thanks a bunch, buddies," said Issei, patting Kiba on the back.

This session of congratulations and thanking was then interrupted by a cough from behind them. They turned to find a giant spider holding Taro like a damsel in distress the spider had just rescued from the castle of a wicked witch. Taro, however, was still wrapped in the webbing, unable to move.

"Good rescue attempt, guys, it's not like I had to deal with it myself and try and work out how to look into eight eyes with two eyes, to try and bend its will. Oh, wait, yes I did! Absolutely useless," Taro said sharply.

"Oh, sorry, mate, we had problems of our own to deal with," replied Taro, who then pointed to the dead, headless Minotaur on the floor, "See?"

"I don't care, I will not tolerate excuses. Now can one of you kill this thing already? I'm not entirely sure how good a job I did on bending its will as it's got quite a lot of eyes. And the fact that it has clown makeup on is really freaking me out," Taro responded.

"Why don't you just teleport?" asked Xenovia.

Taro bit his lip in frustration and snapped at her, "because its webbing is blocking my magic."

"And what about the daggers that come out of your suit?"

"The web tightens in other areas if I try and stretch it with the daggers. Could you just kill it, for fuck's sake."

"Sure," said Kiba, as he and Xenovia strolled over to the spider and put their swords on its neck, their swords crossing (whey) and then cutting into the spider's neck like scissors. The also headless spider fell to the floor, and Taro along with it.

"Now cut me out of the webbing, come on, we don't have all day," commanded Taro.

The two sword wielders present bent down and started to dig into the webbing, straining against the web's strength, finding it a battle to cut through. It was like trying to cut through your rubber with a metal ruler during moments of boredom at school. After a great deal of huffing and puffing, Taro eventually found himself freed. He shook Kiba and Xenovia's hands as a thank you and performed the secret handshake with Issei, although Issei attempted to withdraw his hand before the knuckle tickle.

"What are you doing?" Taro demanded.

"I'm not doing the knuckle tickle again," replied Issei.

"No, don't be a dick. Either do the handshake properly or don't do it all," said Taro.

Issei nodded and reluctantly did the handshake again with all of the previously agreed upon moves, including the knuckle tickle.

Rias and Akeno hugged Taro tightly; as he wrapped his arms around them he was hit with a wave of new knowledge of what was to come to pass. He tightened his jaw to avoid revealing this new information. He raised his hands and put them on the two girls' heads, pulling them in closer. Taro's heart sunk and a tear rolled down his cheek as he thought about what he now knew.

In the coming hours, there will be three significant deaths – with this three encompassing members of both sides. And the final one to fall of the three will be Taro.


	9. Chapter 1,9: Rule the World

**The Love Octagon Venn Diagram**

 _A High School DxD fanfic_

 _By me_

 _Rated M_

Chapter 9: Rule the World

As the knowledge of his impending death dawned upon him, Taro clung to Akeno and Rias, not wanting this moment to end – as for every moment that passed, the closer death beckoned. "I'm sorry," he mumbled into their ears, tears filling his eyes.

"For what?" asked Rias.

"Everything. Being a generally difficult fellow to know. I hope you both know how much adoration I have for the two of you," he replied, readjusting himself so that he could kiss them both on the forehead.

"Why are you saying all of this, and why are you crying?" Rias again questioned, laying her palm on his chin.

Taro looked up to a hole in the cave's infrastructure, which allowed him to see the night sky. "Do you see up there?" he said, pointing at the hole, "the stars are coming out tonight, they're lighting up the skies tonight. For you."

"What's got into to you? You've turned all soppy. Has that spider robbed you of your 'manliness'?" laughed Akeno, raising her hand to stroke the hairs on his chin.

"Yeah you and me we can ride on a star, if you stay with me, girl, we can rule the world. Yeah you and me we can light up the sky, if you stay by my side, we can rule the world," he wept.

"Aw," they cooed, pulling him closer and kissing him on the side of his head.

"Hey, Issei, did you see how Akeno stroked my beard? Mate, girls love beards – grow one," Taro called to Issei.

"Don't be a dick. I was in the dimensional gap for three months and I came back as hairy as a new baby's bottom," replied Issei.

"Yeah, true. Forget I said anything," said Taro sheepishly.

Taro teleported his comrades back to the rest of the party, and they continued to persevere through the cave. The ill lit cave both felt and smelt damp, yet peculiarly there was also a dryness about the cave. A cool air spread about them, perhaps originating from the sea at the end they'd entered through. As they continued on into the abyss, they found the atmosphere around them rapidly started to increase in heat, until they found themselves sweating like Issei hiding in the girls' changing room.

"It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes… - no, not you, Kiba," mumbled Taro.

Eventually, they made their way out of the cave into the lowest floor of the Khaos Brigade's base. The Occult Research Club came into a room on fire. But this fire was controlled and deliberate. The flames faced them in several rows, with none of the flames breaking out of this system. It was a system tailor made to stop them, their arrival had been anticipated.

"Issei, don't try and piss on this fire, okay?" Taro remarked.

"I wasn't going to – there's no way I would be able to produce enough," replied Issei.

"We've gone from boner jokes to toilet humour. Oh, how the mighty have fallen," Koneko stated derisively.

"Rossweisse, Akeno, please put out the flames," said Rias, gesturing towards the fire.

"Of course. Putting out this much could take a few moments though," replied Rossweisse.

"This must be some sort of delaying tactic," Xenovia observed.

Akeno and Rossweisse looked to the ceiling and moved their hands to the side, and pools of water fell from it, on to the fire. The flames diminished into nothingness. As the club prepared to cross the room, the flames suddenly shot back up and again blocked their route.

A light bulb appeared above Taro's head, finally able to distract himself from the knowledge of his impending death. He saluted his teammates and vanished. The others were alerted to his presence when they heard him crying on the other side. His skin was scorched and his clothes in tatters. He'd teleported to the other side, yet he'd still been burnt as if he'd ran across the flames.

"Taro!" Rias shouted.

"I'm going to have to come back to you to get healed, aren't I?" Taro wailed. He breathed in and appeared by them, even more burnt and his screams of pain even more intense. "End the pain and just fucking kill me, oh my Lucifer."

Asia came to his side and started to hover her hands at Taro's side, with the group deciding that euthanasia wasn't yet required for him. Despite the results of her healing not being visible at first, Taro began to feel some relief. After an intense of session of healing for ten minutes, Taro found his skin back to normal, but his clothes remained unfixed.

"Ah, for fuck's sake – another suit ruined," whined Taro, "and ladies: my eyes are up here."

The flames abruptly dissipated and their route up the Khaos Brigade base became open and available.

"What just happened?" asked Asia.

"Is it a trap?" Koneko questioned.

"Issei, you're a dragon – flames come natural to you, walking across it shouldn't be a big deal for you if the flames do come back," said Taro, directing Issei to the pathway before them.

"No, you claim you're manly because you have a beard – you go," Issei responded.

"I already have. It didn't go well," Taro reminded.

Rias sighed and walked across to the other side, completely unscathed. Seeing this, the others soon followed suit and joined her on the other side.

"They must no longer have a reason to delay us," said Kiba.

The club members climbed cautiously up the steps to the ground floor of the base. Again, they found their pathway blocked, this time by at least one hundred foot soldiers – possibly twice that number – all wielding metal batons with pointed ends.

"This is going to be a long day," Taro commented.

"How have they been alerted to our presence and our infiltration?" Rias questioned.

The soldiers charged at the Occult Research Club, their batons raised. The club members reacted accordingly and readied themselves for battle. One of the soldiers attempted to clatter into Taro, he teleported behind the soldier in response and put his arm to the soldier's neck, allowing a black dagger to poke out of his sleeve and slit the soldier's throat (brutal, right? Soz).

"Watch where you're pointing that thing, please – you could have someone's eye out," Taro said.

The encounter continued in much the similar ilk. The club members were more powerful than the soldiers, with the OCR only truly struggling to deal with numbers.

Kiba called to his peers, "go, and leave this to us sword wielders. The less of you here the more ease I'll have in using swordbirth."

"Are you sure?" asked Rias.

"Yes, go. We have this," replied Xenovia, with Irina supporting her with a nod.

Rias followed this with a nod of her own, and the rest of the party departed the ground floor, leaving Kiba, Xenovia and Irina to contend with the foot soldiers.

 _ **/**_

The remaining club members – Rias, Akeno, Koneko, Issei, Asia, Gaspar Rossweisse and Taro – found themselves entering an empty room on the first floor. Despite the feeling that this seemed too good to be true, they walked briskly and assuredly through the room. They heard the sound of something fall behind them and, before they could react, Asia was on the floor with five deep scratch marks on her back, unconscious.

"Asia!" Issei cried, falling to her side. He looked up to see Kuroka smirking back at him, "what did you do?"

"I scratched her back, she must've fallen unconscious from the shock of it, as she's not really someone who engages in combat, is she? But this makes things fair, now that you don't have your healer," replied Kuroka.

Taro grimaced; the chips were starting to fall in place for his death. With Asia gone, the potential form coming back seemed to have been eliminated.

"You bitch," Koneko groaned.

"Now, Shirone, my dear sister, is that any way to talk to your beloved big sister?" Kuroka said.

"My name," began Koneko, as she let her fist come into contact with Kuroka's face, "is Koneko!" Koneko turned to her comrades, "leave her to me. This is my fight."

"Before you leave me, there's something you should know, Rias Gremory," called Kuroka, as she wiped the blood from her face.

"What?" Rias demanded sharply.

"This was all a set up. We had someone on the inside give Sirzechs information to draw you out here. And do you know what the best part is? Sirzechs is now dead!" Kuroka laughed, "Vali has just got back from assassinating him!"

"No! I don't believe you!" Rias shouted, tears flooding her eyes.

"Rias," Akeno said sympathetically, tears starting to form in her eyes too.

Taro looked away coldly, trying to hide his face and the lack of shock across it. The first death had come to pass. "It's true," he muttered, "he's dead."

"What?" Rias wept.

"Sirzechs is dead. But he will be avenged, Vali will be the next to fall," Taro responded. He put his hand on Rias' shoulder and looked into her water swamped eyes, "we must persevere. We can't let his death be in vain."

Rias looked away for a moment and turned back to Taro, "you're right. Koneko, good luck!" and Rias walked away, the rest of her teammates following.

 _ **/**_

The following floor was the floor of Le Fay Pendragon. She greeted them fondly and offered her condolences to Rias, but also made them aware that she was going to be putting sentiment aside in this fight. Rossweisse and Gaspar stepped up for this encounter with the young magician, with Rias, Akeno, Issei and Taro moving on to the next level.

They then came to the penultimate floor of the base - the floor of Bikou. Taro realised this was his moment to depart the party for a face off, he shooed his teammates away and told them to give Vali one from him.

"I've got to say I'm not a fan of this budget Elite Four bullshit you've got going on here," remarked Taro to Bikou.

"What a shame," replied Bikou indifferently.

Taro gave Bikou a friendly smile and vanished. He appeared behind Bikou with his arm stretched out, hoping to perform the same manoeuvre as with the foot soldier, but instead he was met with a fist, which smacked into his face. Taro fell back a few steps, holding his face and cursing repeatedly.

Before Taro could react, Bikou lept into the air and catapulted – foot first - into Taro's stomach. Taro flew across the floor, clutching his stomach, only being stopped by the wall appearing behind him. As he smacked against the wall, he found that he was experiencing pain from both sides. He lifted his hand to the air and called "timesies," but Bikou only proceeded to laugh at this suggestion. Taro pulled himself back up, so that he was standing on his feet, and looked up to see Bikou's fist metres away from his face. Taro let out an 'eek' and teleported to the other side of the room. He was beginning to regret only developing his defensive attributes that aided him in running, not his offensive attributes which would've helped him if he had ever decided to be bold, and stay and fight.

"I called 'timesies'," said Taro.

"There are no 'timesies' in this arena," Bikou replied.

"Thanks for only telling me that now."

Bikou turned and charged at Taro, who threw two streams out of from his sleeves at Bikou, Bikou batted them away to the sides and continued to hurtle across the room. Mid-charge, Bikou transformed into his monkey form. Golden hair protruded out from Bikou's skin, as his facial features morphed so that his mouth became larger, his nose squashed into his face and his eyes narrowed in slightly. His arms grew in length, whilst his back arched slightly, and a tail popped out of his rear. Taro tried to teleport away, but Bikou took hold of one of the black streams and teleported with Taro. As the monkey launched itself at Taro, he held out his arm to cover his face, feeling sharp teeth sink into his flailing arm.

Taro shrieked, "I hope Asia's packing a rabies shot."

Bikou snarled, "I don't have rabies, you prick," and he pulled at Taro's long, curly hair, pulling out the string which gave Taro a ponytail. Long, onyx locks fell over Taro's face, temporarily thwarting his vision and stopping him from seeing the opened hand – instilled with magical energy – of Bikou, that landed perfectly on Taro, giving Taro the worst bitch slap Taro had ever been on the receiving end of.

Taro went sailing across the room, against only being stopped by the barrier of the walls around him. "Been a while since I've been slapped like that, and last time it was by a girl." Taro moved the hair to the sides that had fallen in front of his eyes, and wiped the blood from his face, whilst also spitting out what resided in his mouth. ' _Getting beaten up has become way too much of a reoccurring thing in my life, I need to sort this shit out_.'

"I was hoping for more of a contest, a few more blows and this'll be over. How sad," said Bikou indifferently.

Taro started rubbing his lower arm, with this rubbing then becoming scratching. He looked down at this sensation and saw a red mark. "Bikou, have you got flees? Because I think that one of them has bit me. Where are your fellow monkeys to come and pick the fleas off your pelt and eat them?"

Bikou growled and cried out "I don't have fleas!" as he let his fist hurtle into what he thought was going to be Taro's face. But, instead, Bikou's energy infused fist launched itself into Bikou's own face, coming in from behind, after being temporarily separated from Bikou's body.

"I've missed making people hit themselves," remarked Taro.

"Just because you can't land one of our own punches on me," Bikou replied sharply.

"Oh, really?" said Taro with his arms crossed, as a swarm of black dagger tore out of what remained of his suit and shot out at Bikou. Bikou tried to smack away and dodge as many as he could, but eventually the number of draggers grew too much, and they pierced through his sides – missing all of Bikou's vital organs. Bikou yelped in pain and fell to the floor, clutching his sides. Blood spilled out of Bikou's mouth and out of his wounds.

He looked up at Taro, who had a smirk etched across his face. Bikou brought out his staff and let it grow like an erection until it reached Taro's unsuspecting legs, before tripping Taro over. Taro fell on his back and cried out, as pain went down his spine. Bikou, snarling, propelled himself from the floor on to Taro and unleashed his wild animal rage upon Taro in the form of a succession of energy infused punches to the face. "No, not the money maker," Taro grumbled. His vision began to blur and all he could taste was his own blood and the fur on his lips.

The punching came to a sudden stop and Taro let out a sigh of relief, only to instead find a staff thrust through his stomach. He spat out a copious amount of blood as he leapt up to grab hold off the staff, in order to stop it going any deeper. He looked into the eyes of Bikou, managing to maintain a stare for enough moments that a flicker of silver could play across his eyes, and bend Bikou's will enough for Bikou to pull out the staff and withdraw.

Taro let his body sprawl across the floor. He moved his left arm to the wound and pressed his hand down, in a desperate attempt to stop the blood gushing out. Taro looked up at the ceiling, trying to focus on it but found it was no use. He gave up on this and just allowed his eyes to close.

This was not how he wanted to die. He wanted to die to the sound of 'Sadness and Sorrow' from Naruto. He used his free hand to pull his phone out from his pocket, hoping that this would allow him to play this song in the background as the life seeped out of him. But, alas, his phone was out of battery. ' _For fuck's sake, I haven't used in days as there's been no signal, yet it's somehow out of battery. Absolutely disgraceful stuff from Apple_.'

He breathed in and out, finding this action to be a real struggle. He felt slightly disappointed that death seemed to have come early for him, as there was still meant to be one more death before his own. But things change, he supposed, nothing is ever truly set in stone.

Tears began to fill his eyes as he thought to what he was leaving behind. The image of his main boy, Issei, appeared before him and he smiled. The rest of the Occult Research Club next materialised before his mind's eye. And, finally, Rias and Akeno smiling at him manifested before him. His tears became quiet sobs as he came to the realisation that he was leaving these two behind. This was not how he wanted to die. He did not wish to die alone, but life had dealt him a cruel final hand.

The consciousness then slipped out of him.

 _ **/**_

John's eyes fluttered open to see the ceiling before him. It had all been dream.

He and his upper body rose from under the covers as he looked around the room. Looking out of the window he saw that it was still the night. Something fell of off him and hit the floor. It was a copy of Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'. He picked it up by its spine and an edition of one of the light novels of 'High School DxD' fell out. He then picked this up too, and Playboy magazine dropped out. He put all three on his bedside table, where he saw the joint of marijuana that he had been smoking earlier that evening.

' _I've got to stop smoking and reading before bed, it just causes me to have weird as fuck dreams,_ ' he thought to himself.

Scanning across the room he saw a Minotaur figurine on his desk and glowered. To the side of the desk were two enclosures. One fish task and one glass box with a lizard inside it. He saw in the corner of the ceiling that the massive house spider that his girlfriend had claimed to have got ridden of was still there. It must've fallen out of her hand. He turned to his side and glared at his small breasted girlfriend. ' _You had one fucking task. One. And you couldn't do it. My patience is wearing very thin with you, young lady._ '

He raised his arm to the spider in the corner of the room and attempted to fire a black dagger at it. Nothing happened. John scowled. He got out of bed and picked up the largest book he could find. He pulled out a chair and positioned it below the corner where the spider resided. He gently let his hand holding the book hover over the spider, before clamping down upon it. The spider fell to the floor and scuttled away. He cursed and fell out of his chair and hit the floor with a 'thud'. His girlfriend remained fast asleep.

John opened his eyes to find the spider covering them. He squawked and brought his palms crashing down on his face. The spider's carcass splatted across his face and he grimaced. He left his bedroom and entered the bathroom. He ripped off some toilet paper with one hand, whilst keeping the other pressed against the dead spider on his forehead – for he wanted to do with this without having to look at the spider again - and slowly slipped the toilet paper under his other hand. He cleaned up the spider's body and put it in the bin. He then took further tissues to wipe away any residue on his face, along with the sweat.

He waited until his breathing returned to normal and then relieved himself over the toilet. He cleaned up what hadn't made it into the toilet bowl, popping the tissue into toilet and flushing. After washing his hands and drying them, he noticed that his heart rate was still abnormally quick and took out one of the pills from his heart medication and swallowed it with some water.

John stared at himself in the mirror and frowned. In this reality, his beard was patchy, his looks average and his curly hair only growing up into a thick mess, not down – never allowing him the ponytail he longed for.

He returned to bed, thought back to his previous dream and smiled. ' _Oh, if only that was real life,_ ' he thought to himself and closed his eyes, returning to sleep.

On the desk of his room, to the side of the figurine of a Minotaur, a spinning top spun. It began to slow down and show signs of wavering, almost coming to a full stop.

 _ **/**_

Taro's eyes flickered open, awakening from his peculiar dream of a mundane life, a new found strength filling him.

' _No, I'm not dying in the penultimate chapter and ninth instalment of a series. Then my death is guaranteed. I will die in the tenth instalment, with no proof to come in further episodes/chapters of my death, giving me the potential for a return. I am not going to die like Ned and Robb Stark. I'll be like Jon Snow and die in the tenth episode/chapter, so that people can speculate over whether I'll return._ '

Taro looked up to see that Bikou was wandering around the room aimlessly, now back in his normal human form - the effects of Taro's mind numbing having not yet worn off. Taro strolled up to him and placed his fist against the back of Bikou's neck.

"I didn't much care for you stabbing me and almost killing me, Bikou," Taro said, "but after beating death I come to the realisation that I have robbed the death of gods and I need to offer them a replacement. As attractive as the redheaded grim-reaper in 'So I can't play H!' was, I'd still prefer it if I didn't have to contend with her, so I'm afraid you're going to have to take my place as an offering."

A black dagger shot out of Taro's sleeve and bore through Bikou's throat. Bikou gurgled and then his body went limp. Taro withdrew the dagger and let Bikou's body fall to the floor.

The adrenaline pumping through him starting to lessen, Taro was reminded of the pain emanating from the wound to his stomach. He sank to the floor, lying next to his victim and stared up at the ceiling once more.

As he considered just lying here to die, courage filled him once more and he pulled himself back up once more. Rias and Akeno needed him. He couldn't abandon them now. He still had things he wished to say to them. He had a job to do and he needed to complete it. If he was going to die today, he didn't want to die alone. He wanted one last final hurrah before death came his way. He yearned for a hero's death in battle like an ancient Greek mythical legend. If he was going to die in the midst of a fight and not from a heart attack after having an overly aggressive sex session, then he wanted to die heroically like Hector and Achilles.

Taro took his jacket and shirt off (one for the ladies) and tore off pieces of material from the shirt. He then wrapped the material around his stomach, covering the wound and providing constant pressure on it. This makeshift bandage quickly became stained and dampened where the wound was. Taro put his jacket back on and looked up to the next staircase. With the pain flowing through him, walking up this staircase felt as if he was actually trying to climb up a mountain, but he forced himself to continue up the stairs to where his comrades were.


	10. Chapter 1,10: Pray

**The Love Octagon Venn Diagram**

 _A High School DxD fanfic_

 _By me_

 _Rated M_

Chapter 10: Pray

Taro came to the top of the stairs to find Rias, Akeno and Issei facing Vali. The three Occult Research Club members were panting heavily, their clothes slightly ripped (classic DxD fight), and with some small bruises and cuts across their body. Vali, on the other hand, looked fine. Taro slid down in the doorway, resting his head and right shoulder on the frame, and watched on. In his current state, he'd be more a liability than an aid in this fight.

"I just couldn't help myself but come back to finish you off, Issei. I'd cleared the path for me to take my rightful place as the Satan known as 'Lucifer', but I felt it was only right that I defeated you before I ascended to my new position," said Vali.

Issei growled with anger. He was coated from head to toe in red dragon armour, his fists clenched as he stared at the rival he'd been destined to fight since birth. Issei charged at Vali and released a punch infused with magical energy at Vali's face, but Vali deflected the punch away and kneed Issei in the stomach. Vali followed this with a burst of power that sent Issei flying across the room.

"Issei!" Akeno cried out.

Rias' turn came next. Red aura emanated from Rias, her hair floating in the air behind her. Her tear stained eyes had become a blood red. The 'Ruin Princess' sent a surge of magic Vali's way, her anger and sorrow blocking out her reason. Vali absorbed the power and sent it right back at Rias. Rias' eyes widened as the burst came hurtling at her, she raised her hand to conjure up a magical circle shield, but the burst of power never came into contact with the shield. Instead, Rias found that she'd inadvertently moved a few steps to the left, out of the line of fire. She looked around the room in search of answers and saw Taro lying in the doorway. Taro gave her a thumbs up and found himself slouching slightly more into the doorway.

"Taro, what happened to you? You look like shit," said Issei.

"I tripped and fell," Taro responded sarcastically.

"You need to be more careful then in future," remarked Issei.

"Wow, I've just realised who you two are," said Vali.

"What?" Issei asked.

"You and the guy in the doorway, you're 30H!3," replied Vali blissfully.

"No, we're Issei and Taro, mate," Issei said.

"Although I do think that I should know how to make love to something innocent without my leaving my fingerprints on," wheezed Taro.

"Could you guys please focus?" Rias interrupted.

"It seems that you're rather limited to physical attacks at the minute because Vali can absorb your magical attacks," said Taro, "have you tried overloading him?"

"That sounds like a very risky manoeuvre. We either burst the circuit or we give him so much power that he destroys us without breaking a sweat," replied Rias.

"I'm not sure whether we'd be able to generate enough power anyway," added Akeno.

Taro turned to Issei, "Issei, win this and you can start focusing on building your harem. It's all within touching distance."

"'Touching'… distance… as in I'll be able to touch as many as I like?" replied Issei, shaking at the thought.

"Well, it's more of a saying that a literal thing, but yeah, that too," answered Taro.

Vali coughed and, as they turned in his direction, they found a ball of demonic power hurtling in their direction. Rias and Akeno put up their magical shields and deflected the attack, but Issei was not quite so alive to things and felt the full blast of the power. As Issei crashed through the air, he found that he was now standing upright again, with the wall behind him never coming into contact. Taro had teleported him away from the wall.

"Issei, do you think you've boosted enough to really overload Vali with power?" asked Taro.

"Not yet, I'm afraid," Issei replied.

"Rias, Akeno, attack him in hand to hand combat," Taro called.

"So you want us to take a few punches whilst Issei powers up?" Akeno asked.

"Yes, although," Taro began, restarting after teleporting to the sides of the girls and drawing them in for a huddle and whispering, "I'll try and teleport his hands and get him to punch himself, because that'll be funny."

"Sounds like a full proof plan," replied Akeno dryly.

"We're building up to something special. Just have a little patience," Taro told her.

They nodded hesitantly and flew in to engage in a series of physical attacks with Vali. They let magical energy surge into their hands and feet, as they punched and kicked at Vali. Vali raised his hands and tried to block as many of their attacks as he could. He grunted and groaned. Seizing upon a space where they both kicked, he swung his arms and swiped them away. As they fell back a few paces across the air, Vali launched himself at them with his fists leading the way. So much was the amount of magical energy in his hands that it seemed like it was visible, perhaps because of how heavily concentrated it was.

' _Taro better get this right, or it looks like Akeno and I are going to be on the receiving end of one hell of a punch,_ ' Rias thought, grimacing as she mustered up a shield in front of her – although she remained dubious over how effective this shield would be.

As Vali edged closer to the girls, his fists vanished and reappeared facing the opposite direction. Vali's eyes widened, but his fists came at him so quickly that he had no time to react. Vali went flying across the room, colliding with the wall, leaving a great cavity where he made contact.

Taro couldn't help but laugh hysterically at this sight, "that just made this trip worth it. I've had my suit ruined, I've got a hole in my stomach, and I almost died. I mean, I went up to heaven and saw Hesus. Then heaven realised that I'm a devil and a sinner and sent me back to hell, where I saw Scar from the Lion King. Then I was pulled out of purgatory back into the world of the living. But seeing that has made it all okay. That's going to hold me for a while."

"Did you say 'Hesus'? Do you mean Jesus?" asked Akeno.

"No, Hesus. This cracking Spanish fellow I used to know. He was my gardener. Such a lovely guy, he couldn't hurt a fly – a ridiculously well meaning chap. The kind of guy you'd want your daughter to bring home, well at least he would be if he wasn't poor as fuck. But a nice guy nonetheless. Sadly, he was shot dead after being mistaken for his estranged twin brother, a big drug lord," replied Taro.

"I've been boosting, but I still don't think that I've powered up enough. Even in the knowledge that this will allow me to start my harem at long last, I just don't feel pumped enough," said Issei.

"Rats. Issei, win this and we'll start a co-harem. That way you get Rias and Akeno back as the leading ladies - the faces of the harem. We'll start an Instagram account together and be like Dan Bilzerian – but people will be even more envious and will become enraged when seeing us with beautiful girls like Rias and Akeno – along with the other female club members, and whoever else we recruit - because we're not muscular and 'real men' like big Dan. We'll be breaking out of the norm that society wants and accepts," responded Taro.

"That would be amazing. Okay, let's do this. Let's wreck Vali."

Vali started to laugh at this admission, "come on, Issei, I've seen how powerful you can become. You're nowhere near where you need to be to defeat me. I want this to be a battle remembered throughout the ages – between the best white dragon emperor, and the breast red dragon emperor. This got you pumped last time.

"Issei, if I need to kill everyone you care about to make you stronger I will. I'll kill everyone in this building, bar you, and then I'll move on to your home town and kill everyone there – just to make this a good fight."

"No," Issei said bluntly, rage start to build up within him. "NO," Issei screamed, and power flooded through his body.

"Okay, now channel that Issei, along with Akeno and Rias, and hit him with everything you've got," called Taro.

Issei let his rage at the prospect of everyone he cared about inspire him to unleash a burst of power the size of a hurricane at its best, with Akeno and Rias using their feelings regarding Sirzechs' death to fuel them. An eruption of magical power left them and charged through the air at Vali. The wall of power crashed into Vali and sent him hurtling across the room. Rather than crashing into the wall, Vali found himself crashing through the wall, a massive hole appearing in the wall's infrastructure.

As the dust cleared, what was behind the wall was revealed – a toilet, where a soldier sat, doing his business. This soldier was looking directly at them, with Vali sprawled across the floor at his feet. The soldier quickly covered his nether regions and began to blush.

"Um, occupied!" the soldier cried out.

"Soz," replied Taro, taking up an ambassadorial role.

"Is it over?" Akeno asked.

"I'm not sure," replied Rias.

Vali eventually got back to his feet and brushed himself off, "that was a tough one to take. But now you've just powered me up beautifully, giving me the strength to kill all of Issei's friends and families. Thank you."

Issei roared and found that he was evolving in his rage. Issei went through a full 'dragonification', as a dragon body enclosed around him. Issei let control slip away and allowed rage to take over. Issei's arm stretched out and seized Vali. Vali fired several beams of power at Issei, but Issei ignored it, as if they were mere pinches on his skin. He smashed Vali against each wall, holes developing everywhere, and he ripped Vali's armour off. Issei dropped Vali to the floor and lunged upon him, shoulder first. The floor below gave way and Vali and Issei found themselves dropping to the basement floor where it had all began.

Upon reaching the bottom, Issei let his massive dragon arms come down upon Vali, with successive punches beating Vali into the ground. Once Vali was seemingly out of action, Issei stood up and roared, still unable to get control and calm himself down.

"We need to get Issei to calm down and get him to change back or he'll end up draining his own life force and dying, and possibly accidentally killing us too," said Rias.

"I've got this," replied Taro, and he allowed black wings to sprout out from his back as he floated to the basement floor and found himself face to face with a dragon. Again. He gulped and found strength in the knowledge that it was possible for him to reason with this dragon. Or at least he hoped he could.

Taro stared deeply into the dragon's eyes, pouring all his concentration and energy into his eyes, as silver flickered over and over again across his eyes. "Calm down, Issei, you're causing a scene and a situation. And you know how I feel about situations. We don't want you to develop the nickname 'Issei 'the Situation' Hyoudou'. Sort yourself out, lad."

The rage started to seep out of Issei and he morphed back into his human form, panting heavily. "Sorry about that," he muttered.

"No worries," replied Taro.

Issei and Taro then heard spluttering in the background, as Vali struggled to stand behind them. They turned around and saw him. Issei attempted to boost again, but instead found his boosted gear shorted out and he was rendered powerless.

Vali laughed, "oh, no, it looks like you're going to bottle the final encounter. Thank you for making this a good fight."

Taro called up to Rias and Akeno, "get down here, we need backup." As they floated down, Taro turned to Rias and asked her, "I'm given to understand you can power Issei up with your breasts. Would you be a lamb and do that now, please?"

"And that won't piss you off?" Rias questioned.

"I only have a short, short while left to live. I don't want to pass my final minutes being jealous. Go for it," replied Taro.

"What do you mean by 'final minutes'?" Rias demanded.

"I am fated to follow Sirzechs and Vali in dying today," said Taro calmly.

"No, I won't let you die! How will you die?" Rias said, tears filling her eyes again.

"I don't know. It might be this wound, it might be another wound, or maybe my heart will give out randomly," he responded, turning away from her. He didn't want to see her cry. "Just power Issei up and let's win this."

Rias stretched out her hand to put on Taro's shoulder, but he brushed it aside and looked intently and deeply at her. She nodded hesitantly. She unbuttoned her shirt and allowed a red light to surge from her nipples. The red light hit Issei and a new found strength occupied him.

Issei turned to Rias and wept at the sight of her breasts shrinking slightly. Taro put a reassuring arm around Issei, "come on, man, stay strong. They'll go back to normal soon," with tears beginning to develop in his own eyes over this.

"But now you'll die with Rias not at her best. I want you to have the best death possible, buddy," Issei wept.

"I know, it's not ideal – but such is life. At least I die with Rias by my side this way, rather than alone like I almost did after I got stabbed in the stomach by Bikou," Taro cried in response, "go on and win this. Vali's still weak, you no longer are. This next move will finish him."

Issei let the power flow into his left dragon armour coated arm. He leapt into the air and threw propelled himself in Vali's direction. Vali tried to muster the strength to respond but found he was too weak. His eyes widened as Issei's fist met Vali's face, with the punch continuing on until Vali thumped against the wall. Issei removed his hand from Vali's face and let Vali slip to the floor. Vali then found himself battling to remain awake, floating in and out of consciousness.

Issei walked away from Vali slowly and triumphantly. The rest of the Occult Research Club returned from their own fights to congratulate him, a still unconscious Asia being held by Koneko. Issei didn't look back at Vali. He knew how cool guys do it in films, they don't look back. He wanted to be cool too.

Vali stirred slightly and raised his hand, magical energy gathering in his palm, with the hand directed so that it was facing Issei.

' _No,_ ' Taro thought and leapt across the room and grabbed hold of Vali's wrist, and the two vanished.

 _ **/**_

"Oh, no, why did I bring you here?" Taro grimaced as he looked around the dimensional gap he had mistakenly returned to, he lifted his hand up to clutch his chest - he could already feel the pain emanating from his heart.

"What a futile attempt at stopping me this is? Once I regain my strength I'll be able to return home in no time. You, on the other hand, don't look quite as likely to ever be able to make the jump home. You don't look too good, my friend," said Vali.

Taro coughed up some blood and lowered his body, with his hands gripping his knees. He wheezed and threw up. "You won't be returning home, Vali, you will die here."

"Really? And who is it that will kill me? You? Don't make laugh; I was stronger than you whilst I was still a foetus in my mother's womb."

Taro stretched his left hand out in front of him, his fist clenched around something. "Are you aware of my abilities?"

"Not particularly, I don't concern myself with insignificant devils like yourself."

Taro laughed, "I can teleport people's body parts away from them. They continue to function as if it were attached, even though the two are no longer actually in contact."

"Why are you telling me this?"

Taro opened up his hand to reveal an oddly shaped red ball-type thing, "this is your heart."

"I don't believe you."

Taro squeezed the heart and Vali cried out and gripped his chest.

"Okay, okay, I believe you. So you'll stop my heart somehow. Very well."

"No begging then?"

"I'm too proud."

"Fair enough. Before I kill you, how did you kill Sirzechs?"

"I reduced his existence in half until he disappeared from existence."

"Okay, that was what I hoped. Thank you, good luck in the afterlife," said Taro, as a black dagger slipped out of his left sleeve and began to slowly fall down towards the heart in Taro's hand.

"No, wait, please, don't!" Vali cried out, the will to live suddenly hitting him. But his pleas were in vain, as the dagger pierced through his heart, blood spurting out. Vali screamed in pain at first, but he eventually stopped and went lip – the life having seeped out of him.

Taro dropped the heart and fell to the ground, sprawling his body across what felt like ground, but in reality it was just space. ' _Looks like I might be dying alone after all.'_

Taro closed his eyes and frowned. ' _No_.' He was not going to die alone. Taro drew on the last of his strength and teleported back to his own dimension.

 _ **/**_

Taro appeared back at the destroyed base of the Vali faction of the 'Khaos Brigade'. Issei, Rias and Akeno swarmed around him, as he lay across the floor, tears flooding their eyes.

He put his hands to the facial cheeks of Rias and Akeno, "all I do each night is pray, hoping that I'll be a part of you again someday. All I do each night is think, of all the times I closed the door to keep my love within."

"Oh, Taro," Rias wept, taking his hand away from her face and gripping it tightly, "please don't die."

"Taro, let me transfer to you the last of my strength so that you can teleport to somewhere where you can be healed," Issei said.

"No, this is my time. You need your power for another task. Vali reduced Sirzechs to nothingness. But all matter is energy. Sirzechs' energy will remain. You have the power to turn that energy back into a something, if you concentrate your power correctly. I have given the death gods Bikou in return for Sirzechs, I cannot let them lose me as well or I risk incurring their wraith," Taro replied, with tears beginning to fill his eyes too.

"But we were going to start a harem together," said Issei, the emotion becoming too much for him as he broke into loud sobs.

"Yes, and how wonderful it would've been. A Love Octagon Venn Diagram of sorts," said Taro, looking towards the fourth wall and winking.

"We were going to go to Magaluf with Matsuda and Motohama in the summer. We were going to come back experienced lovers ready to pass our knowledge on to the virgins in our harem after learning from the sluts in Maga," Issei cried out.

"I know, I know. And it would've been great, but you're going to have to go without me. Those tickets are non-refundable. Maybe bring Kiba with you as my replacement," replied Taro.

"No, then all the girls will be distracted him and we won't get any of the pussay," blubbered Issei.

"I'm sorry, Issei, I really am. I apologise to all of you, my fellow club members," Taro wept, looking across the room at the congregation of his peers. "Rias, Akeno, you're both right – I'm not like Batman. I'm like Iron Man. I've got money, cool suits, a heart condition, a beard, and I'm a playboy. Or at least I wish I was the last one. I'm a work in progress when it comes to that one."

"Sure, Taro, you can be Iron Man. But only if carry on being my Iron Man for a long while yet," Akeno wept burying her head into Taro's armpit to hide her crying.

"I don't think we have that luxury anymore I'm afraid," Taro responded, putting his hand gently on her shoulder.

It all began to blur and the noise around him became distant. He let his eyes close, as his body became weak. Whilst his heart was causing him an intense amount of pain every time it beat, elsewhere he could feel that the strain of trying to breath was becoming tougher and tougher.

' _Looks like I'm dying a virgin. Absolutely devastating, that. For fuck's sake._

 _And the holocaust was complete (that's a Great Gatsby reference, by the way – it's what Nick wrote after the deaths of Myrtle, George Wilson and Gatsby)._ '

Taro pried his eyes open one more time to gaze upon Rias and Akeno and forced a small smile at the vision of them, still beautiful in spite of their tear stained faces. What could be a better to look upon as his final memory?

' _Surely we must be in sight,_

 _Of the dream we long to live._

 _If you stop and close your eyes,_

 _You'll picture me inside._

 _I'm so cold and all alone._ '

And the life seeped out of Taro Tokushumono.

 _ **/**_

John's phone chimed across the room, as the sound of Take That awoke him from his slumber. He forced his hand out of sleep paralysis and grabbed his phone and turned off the alarm. It was his day off, why was his alarm on? Stupid glitch-ridden phone. John groaned and settled back into his pillow, surrendering himself once more to sleep.

 _ **/**_

' _No, I refuse to die a virgin,'_ as thought echoed again through Taro's head. Today was not his day to die. No, a greater destiny was planned for him.

He sprung up off of his back and turned to face those around him.

"Taro!" they cried with joy.

"Ladies, ready my coronation for becoming Satan is my new path," he said defiantly.

"Um, you're not really powerful enough to be a Satan. You're one of the weakest in the club, as you're only, really, good at running away. There are hundreds of devils with bigger claims to power than you," Rias said, her tone suggesting she was trying to be nice and sympathetic to avoid hurting his feelings.

Taro ignored her and stood up and walked away from them, looking into the sky as a newfound belief of a great destiny occupied his mind, "wipe away your tears, the new devil king is here. Have no fear, unless you are a mortal mere. The time of Taro draws near, so, ladies, bring to me your wonderful rears."

In the corner of the room, a spinning top spun freely. It began to slow down, slightly, possibly giving the impression that it might perhaps stop spinning soon. Perhaps. But not certainly (if you don't get the significance of this, look up the ending of 'Inception').

 _ROLL CREDITS._

 _ **Author's note:**_ _So I'm just going to review my own piece of writing. I'm disappointed with how I built up the romance between Rias, Akeno and Taro, if I'm completely honest. I should've spent a couple of chapters building up to it – forcing Taro to do more to woo them, and perhaps causing less outrage amongst some readers (I love Issei x Rias x all other DxD girls too, but he lacked certain qualities to be my protagonist – he isn't English enough in how he goes about things). But I was impatient and was too quick to bring Issei back, and wanted things between Rias, Akeno and Taro to be at a certain place when Issei returned. I may have spent too much time developing the bromance and not the romance after that, but romance is a lot trickier and awkward to write about. My lack of favour towards drama is what stopped me from causing a bigger incident between Issei and Taro over Taro 'stealing' his women. I think that the 'witty' back and forth between characters has been good though, although I may have spent too much time on this too, and not on developing character relationships. I may have focused too much on the comical and the action, and not enough on the romance – which is an annoyance._

 _On reflection, I didn't develop my characters enough, other than Taro – albeit he is meant to be my main man. If I'd written more chapters pre-Issei I could've spent more time on other characters, so this is another regret of mine. Although I don't particularly like big teams like this, and I would've preferred to focus on a compact unit of five or six people._

 _I am considering whether to write a sequel, as I have had a new burst of ideas recently. If I was to write a sequel, I would focus more on character relationships and focus more on the themes of being at school (I have an idea for a bit regarding driving lessons and the first to pass their driving test – what this series needs is a high speed car chase to complete the action genre elements). There would be sagas away from school, but this guys have been taking truancy to a whole level throughout the story. I would also like to improve the quality of writing in any sequel, as I've been slightly lazy with the descriptions so far – perhaps a reduction on the number of boner jokes would be beneficial (but I would never completely stop them. No, no, no)._

 _I rushed these first ten chapters as I wanted to finish writing before I went to university, so any sequel I write may not be for a while and it won't be as frequently updated as things have been so far. Rather than starting a new story, I think that I will just continue to add to this one – this is why I've now made the first ten chapters 'Chapter 1, 1' as the sequel's chapters will be called 'Chapter 2, 1', if I am to write one. I also need to decide on whose songs to name chapters after, as I'm running out of Take That songs as most are far too lovey dovey._

 _Thanks for reading, here's hoping that there will actually be a fourth season of DxD in December!_


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